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When a pregnant woman first hears of Group B Strep, she usually has no clue what it means. But its implications are important to understand for the health of your baby.
GBS is also known as Group B Strep or Beta Strep. However you hear about it, if you have a positive culture for this bacteria your health care provider will be treating you differently for labor and delivery.
The first thing to understand about GBS is that the bacteria itself is present in approximately 33 percent of the population, living primarily in the intestinal tract. It is completely normal and doesn't cause any problems for a non-pregnant person or a pregnant woman who has it only in that part of the anatomy. However, once GBS finds it way into the area that is swabbed for culture, rectal and vaginal, then it poses a health risk to the baby first and foremost.
It usually presents with no symptoms to the mother and is only discovered through routine testing done at 36 weeks gestation. Though some practitioners do not routinely test for GBS as they are not convinced that treating it preventatively is the best approach. But for someone who has had a GBS baby they want everything possible to be done.
What happens with GBS is that once the bacteria resides in the birth canal the baby is going to come in contact with it and be at risk for infection. GBS infection can kill or severely damage a baby and there is no way of knowing which baby it will or will not happen to.
Once your practitioner does know you are GBS positive you will be given antibiotics when you are in labor to help prevent any infection. An initial dose is first given when you are admitted to your birthing facility and doses will continue every four hours until you deliver. The more intravenous antibiotic you receive the better the outcome for your baby.
The risk of having a GBS infected baby hovers around 1 percent if you were given antibiotics. That is minimal enough that worry is not necessary. But ignoring the possibility of infection is not a good idea either.
Treat this bacteria with great caution and abide by the wishes of your physician. If you are not offered testing for GBS, ask for it. You may also consider asking for a urine culture to see if GBS is present in your urine because that would mean you are more heavily infected and could receive oral antibiotics prior to labor.
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