The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has published an explanatory leaflet on group B strep infection during pregnancy. Recall that between 10% and 30% of pregnant women are carriers of group B strep bacteria (GBS), which is housed in the vagina or rectal area, and can be transmitted to their babies during labor .
This poses a risk to the health of the baby, which could develop complications such as pneumonia, sepsis (blood infection) or meningitis (infection of the membranes that cover the brain) ... However, if proper prenatal tests and treatment are performed correct during childbirth, the risk of infection is greatly reduced.
This explanatory booklet, titled "Group B streptococcus and the arm"It clarifies what this bacterium is, how GBS can affect a newborn, how to test to see if the future mother is a carrier of GBS bacteria and also how it can be treated.
The brochure can be consulted online from the website of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
In addition, we remind you that in our pages we have talked about these issues, for pregnant women who are in the last phase of their pregnancy and are interested in Prenatal tests to detect if they are carriers of group B streptococci. It is a procedure recommended not only by the American College but by associations such as the Spanish Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (SEGO) or the Spanish Society of Neonatology, among many other medical associations.
