Group B Streptococcal Infections.

Abstract

1. Tara M. Randis, MD, MS* 2. Jacqueline A. Baker, MD† 3. Adam J. Ratner, MD, MPH*,‡ 1. Departments of *Pediatrics and 2. ‡Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 3. †Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, NY * Abbreviations: CDC: : Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CFR: : case fatality rate CSF: : cerebrospinal fluid EO: : early-onset GBS: : group B Streptococcus HIV: : human immunodeficiency virus IAP: : intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis LO: : late-onset PCR: : polymerase chain reaction Despite recommendations for universal screening and intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis strategies for pregnant women, group B Streptococcus remains a major cause of neonatal disease. After completing this article, readers should be able to: ### Organism Streptococcus agalactiae , or group B Streptococcus (GBS), was first recognized as a distinct entity in the 1930s by Rebecca Lancefield, who used immunologic typing of carbohydrate antigens as a means to classify streptococci. (1) Early studies by her group and others indicated that GBS was an uncommon cause of human disease and was more frequently isolated as an etiologic agent of bovine mastitis. Sporadic case reports from that time demonstrated the potential for GBS to cause invasive infections, especially in peripartum women, although such infections were believed to be infrequent. However, over the period of the 1950s to the early 1970s, GBS became the major cause of neonatal sepsis in the United States and worldwide. ### Colonization and Pathogenesis GBS asymptomatically colonizes the lower gastrointestinal and female genital tracts. Colonization rates …