Abstract
Group B streptococcus (GBS), which commonly colonizes the female genital tract and rectum, can cause infections in newborns with varying severity, possibly leading to death. The aim of the present study was to evaluate Hitchens-Pike-Todd-Hewitt (HPTH) medium performance for GBS screening in pregnant women. A descriptive analytical cross-sectional study was performed with 556 pregnant women, of which 496 were at 35-37 weeks of gestation and 60 were at ≥ 38 weeks of gestation. The study was conducted from September 2011 to March 2014 in northern Paraná, Brazil. Vaginal and anorectal clinical specimens from each pregnant woman were plated on sheep blood agar (SBA) and seeded on HPTH medium and Todd-Hewitt enrichment broth. Of the 496 pregnant women at 35-37 weeks of gestation, 141 (28.4%) were positive for GBS, based on the combination of the three culture media and clinical specimens. The GBS colonization rates that were detected by each medium were 22.2% for HPTH medium, 21.2% for SBA, and 13.1% for Todd-Hewitt enrichment broth. Of the 60 pregnant women at ≥ 38 weeks of gestation, seven (11.7%) were positive for GBS. These results demonstrate that HPTH medium and SBA were more sensitive than Todd-Hewitt enrichment broth for GBS screening in pregnant women and good GBS recovery in culture, indicating that the two media should be used together for vaginal and anorectal specimens.
Highlights
Group B streptococcus (GBS) or Streptococcus agalactiae is a Gram-positive cocci that commonly colonizes the female genital tract and rectum [1]
Of the 496 pregnant women at 35–37 weeks of gestation who participated in the study, 141 (28.4%) were positive for GBS based on the combination of the three culture media for the two clinical specimens (S1 Table)
Of the pregnant women who were positive for GBS, based on HPTH medium, 8.1% were positive exclusively in vaginal specimens, 3.8% were positive exclusively in anorectal specimens, and 10.3% were positive in both specimens
Summary
Group B streptococcus (GBS) or Streptococcus agalactiae is a Gram-positive cocci that commonly colonizes the female genital tract and rectum [1]. GBS can cause infections in women and men, presenting as cystitis, skin infections, among others. For pregnant women that cause impairments in pregnancy, chorioamnionitis, abortion, intrauterine fetal death, premature membrane rupture, preterm delivery, postpartum endometritis, and sepsis [2]. The prevalence of GBS colonization in pregnant women worldwide has been reported to vary from 3% to 45% (3). In Brazil, the GBS colonization rates feature variations according to demographic region. The rates reported by some author showed ranged from 5% to 30% [3,4,5,6]
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