In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American College of Nurse-Midwives, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and American Society for Microbiology published revised group B streptococcal (GBS) guidelines entitled “Prevention of perinatal group B streptococca...

Group B streptococcal disease is a common cause of bacterial sepsis in newborns and is often fatal. To protect these babies, a vaccination program must target pregnant women for immunization so that the resulting antibodies can be passively delivered from the mother to the fetus. Scientists met in Siena, Italy, to discuss potential approaches to maternal immunization for the prevention of perin...

The prevalence of group B streptococcal carriage was evaluated in nonpregnant women and in mothers and their offsprings. The overall carriage rate of group B streptococci at one site was 18.2%. Streptococci were recovered from one or more of the sites sampled in 25.6% of mothers and 15.4% of newborn infants. The maternal genital carriage rate was 18.6%, and acquisition of the organism from the ...