This is my monthly post about GBS to try to prevent unnecessary infections like mine. Apologies if you've read it but it is important to reach as many woman as possible as they enter their last 5 weeks of 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 (a national charity providing accurate and up-to-date information on GBS) 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 STREPTOCOCCUS?
Most of us have not heard of Group B Streptococcus (Group B Strep or GBS), yet it is a common type of bacteria carried by about one third of us without us usually knowing. It is one of a number of bacteria that normally live in our bodies.
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 give a false negative result half the time (it says you don't carry GBS when you do!), although if you get a positive result from the HVS test this is accurate.
A new, more reliable Enriched Culture Method (ECM) test became available in May 2003, although it is only available privately. Many busy health professionals do yet know of this new more reliable test yet, particularly as GBS testing is not routine. The test is simply a swab.
At present there is only one laboratory in the UK that carries out the ECM test at this time, TDL - The Doctors Laboratory
www.tdlplc.co.uk . But swabs and results are sent through the post so the test can be done anywhere in the country. You (or your health professional) can ask for a free GBS Screening Pack by calling 020 7460 4800 or e-mail them at gbs@tdlplc.co.uk. There is a �28.00 fee when you return the test for analysis (some health professionals may also charge you for specimen collection). The results take 3 working days and will be sent to your health professional. For more details of the ECM go to 'How Can I Get an ECM Test' on the Group B Strep Support website
www.gbss.org.uk.
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 at 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 - you just need to take precautions when giving birth. You should be offered intravenous antibiotics as soon as you go into labour or when your waters break, and then 4-hourly until delivery. 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. Oral antibiotics are NOT thought to be effective.
If you test positive for GBS in this pregnancy you should be treated as a GBS carrier in this AND any subsequent pregnancies.
If test positive for GBS and are having a caesarean you ONLY need intravenous antibiotics if you are also in labour or your waters have broken.
A negative ECM test result in this pregnancy means you do not need to be offered intravenous antibiotics this time, although you should take the test again in your next pregnancies in case the bacteria are just lying low this time.
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 one or more risk factors is present. These risk factors 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.
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 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 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 be disabled
