Ive just found this post on the old site so ive copied it over...
Originally posted by gbsbaby
And for those of you who don't know about GBS, which included me in my last pregnancy...
MY STORY...
Two years ago our first baby was diagnosed with meningitis at only 18 hours old. The first time we'd ever heard of Group B Strep (GBS) was in Group B Strep Support leaflet handed to us by the midwife when our newborn daughter was on a ventilator fighting for her life in intensive care. Isabel survived, but the infection caused permanent brain damage leaving her blind with severe cerebral palsy. At 2 years of age she cannot roll, sit, crawl, stand, walk or even hold her own toys. To read in this leaflet that not only could I have been tested for GBS in the last month of pregnancy but, as an identified GBS carrier, that intravenous antibiotics during labour might have reduced the severity or even prevented her infection was, and remains, simply devastating.
WHAT IS GROUP B STREP?
Most of us have not heard of Group B Streptococcus (also known as GBS, Group B Strep, Beta Strep, Beta Haemolytic Strep, Strep B and streptococcus agalactiae), yet it is a common type of bacteria carried by about one third of us without us usually knowing.
Occasionally, however, GBS causes life threatening infections in 1 in every 1,000 babies born in the UK. Each year, 700 babies develop GBS infections (Septicaemia, Pneumonia, or Meningitis, 100 of these babies die, and 20 babies suffer long-term mental and/or physical handicaps, from mild learning disabilities to severe mental retardation, loss of sight, loss of hearing and lung damage. GBS is also a recognised cause of preterm delivery, maternal infections, stillbirths and late miscarriages.
BUT GBS CAN BE TESTED FOR AND INFECTIONS PREVENTED IN MOST CASES. Testing for GBS saves lives!
HOW DO I KNOW IF I CARRY GBS?
GBS does not make you feel unwell and there are no symptoms (there is no smelly discharge as some midwives claim). The only way to find out if you carry the GBS bacteria is to be tested for it.
The GBS test sometimes used by the NHS (often called an HVS) is not reliable. It gives a false negative result half the time when it should be positive (it says you don't carry GBS when you do!), although if you get a positive result from the HVS test this is accurate.
There is a more reliable test, Enriched Culture Method (ECM) test, but it is only available privately at present. The test is simply a swab and is sent by post to the lab, so you can test anywhere in the UK. It costs £28 and results take 3 working days. Many busy health professionals do not yet know of this new (May 2003) more reliable test yet. So if you need more details go to "How Can I Get an ECM Test" on the Group B Strep Support website
www.gbss.org.uk or from The Doctors Laboratory website
http://www.tdlpathology.com/testinfo/lt_GBS.htm.
The best time to do the ECM test is between 35-37 weeks. This is because the GBS bacteria comes and goes in your body. Any earlier, you might test negative only to have the bacteria come back nearer your due date. Any later and you might give birth before the result is back!
WHAT IF I TEST POSITIVE FOR GBS?
A positive test for GBS means the GBS bacteria was present as the swab was taken - NOT that you or your baby will become ill. Roughly 230,000 babies are born each year to women who carry GBS and, of these, only 700 develop GBS infection. Carrying GBS is perfectly natural and normal - it just that you should be offered intravenous antibiotics as soon as you go into labour or when your waters break, and then 4-hourly until delivery. Oral antibiotics against GBS carriage are NOT effective. A detailed leaflet "For Women Who Carry GBS" can be downloaded from The Group B Strep Support website for you to hand to your midwife and/or obstetrician.
If you test positive for GBS and are having a Caesarean you ONLY need to be offered intravenous antibiotics against GBS infection in your baby if you are also in labour or your waters have broken.
WHAT IF I TEST NEGATIVE?
Research shows that a negative ECM result from a test done at 35-37 weeks of pregnancy is 96% predictive of your still not carrying GBS 5 weeks later, which means there's only a 4% chance that you will acquire GBS carriage over that time. So you do not need to be offered intravenous antibiotics this time, although you should take the test again in future pregnancies because, since GBS carriage can come and go, you may be carrying GBS in a future pregnancy.
WHAT IF I CAN'T BE TESTED?
Testing is not essential. If you have not managed to be tested (or the result is not available), or the less reliable NHS test has come back negative you should discuss with your midwife or obstetrician about your birth plan and being offered intravenous antibiotics if certain circumstances or 'risk factors' occur during your labour. These risk factors (you go into labour or waters break before 37 weeks, your waters break and 12 hours later you still haven't delivered, or a raised temperature) are explained in the short "GBS & Pregnancy 2 page summary" and more detailed "GBS: The Facts" can be downloaded from The Group B Strep Support website for you to hand to your midwife and/or obstetrician.
IF GBS IS SO RARE, WHY SHOULD I BE TESTED?
Many midwives, doctors, and obstetricians will tell you there is no need to have a test for GBS as it is so rare. Serious GBS infections in newborns are very rare, but testing for GBS will make the chances of your baby being affected even more unlikely IF you find out you are a carrier BEFORE you give birth. More important than how rare GBS infections are is the fact that they are largely preventable!
Pregnant women are routinely tested for several rare conditions - HIV, syphilis, spina bifida, Hepatitis B. You are not being paranoid asking for a test - just taking precautions for the healthy delivery of your baby. Not testing for GBS currently contributes to 120 babies dying or being disabled each year. Around 90 of which might have fully recovered had their mothers been tested for GBS in late pregnancy and given intravenous antibiotics before birth. As there is a simple, cheap test (that doesn't cost the NHS a penny) that can prevent GBS infections why not take it? GBS testing is routine in Germany, France, Belgium, Australia, Canada, and the United States.
AND IN MY NEXT PREGNANCY?
If you test positive for GBS in this pregnancy, this does not necessarily mean you will carry GBS in any subsequent pregnancy. If possible you should be offered an ECM test at 35-37 weeks of pregnancy to establish whether you are still carrying GBS. If you are, then you should be offered intravenous antibiotics as soon as possible once labour has started.
If a reliable ECM test result is not available and labour starts after 37 weeks of pregnancy, then your previous GBS carriage status should be treated as an additional risk factor (increasing the risk of a baby developing GBS infection from an estimated 1 in 1,000 in the general population, to an estimated risk of approximately 1 in 500 for a woman whose current GBS status is unknown, but where GBS was isolated prior to the current pregnancy). Group B Strep Support's medical advisory panel's view is that 'previous carrier' status alone is insufficient to recommend offering intravenous antibiotics in labour against GBS infection in the baby, unless another risk factor is also present.
AND PLEASE TRY NOT TO WORRY
Reading about the worst effects of GBS can be pretty worrying. PLEASE remember that GBS is just one of a number of types of bacteria which normally live in our bodies and most babies are not affected by exposure to them. In the UK, approximately 700,000 babies are born each year, of these, 230,000 to mothers who carry GBS and, of which only 700 develop GBS infection. If you are found to carry GBS, this is perfectly natural and normal - you should just take the best possible protection for your baby, should they be susceptible, by having intravenous antibiotics during labour and delivery
I don't want to frighten anyone, just reach the parents of that 1 in 1000 baby and spare them the heartbreak we went through with our baby daughter. I would gladly have paid £28 for her not to be disabled
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