Ask the Mayo Clinic
Posted on: Friday, 29 October 2004, 09:00 CDT
Dear Mayo Clinic: How does a 4-month-old baby who was in fine health contract late-onset Group B Streptococcus infection?
- Chipley, Fla.
Answer: Group B Streptococcus is a widespread germ that lives in the birth canal of about one of every five normal, healthy pregnant women. There are two forms of GBS infection: early-onset and late- onset disease.
Early-onset is the more common form of GBS. Seventy-five percent of infants who are infected with GBS develop it within the first week after birth. Nearly all early-onset cases are passed on from the mother.
Late-onset GBS is less common. It develops in a child after the first week of life, and only rarely beyond 2 months of age. About 50 percent of the late-onset cases are passed on from the mother. The source of the remaining 50 percent is unknown.
Both early- and late-onset forms of GBS can be fatal, and infected infants require immediate intravenous antibiotics. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up to one in 25 babies with GBS infection dies despite treatment. Those who survive may have long-term consequences, such as hearing problems.
In both types, the newborn can develop serious bloodstream infections, pneumonia and meningitis - an infection of the membranes that surround the spinal cord and brain. Signs of these illnesses include high fever and lethargy. If an infant has a bloodstream infection, symptoms can also include shock, change in heart rate and labored breathing. In late-onset GBS, symptoms occur later - typically weeks to months after birth - and meningitis is the more common problem.
Fortunately, preventive treatment can be given during labor to mothers who carry the germs, and as a result, newborn illness is much less common than it used to be. Many older infants who get sick from GBS were born prematurely. Like you, we often wonder where these germs come from. Although no one knows for sure, we suspect that a child becomes infected by being touched by a healthy person who carries GBS without ever getting sick.
- Phil Fischer, M.D., pediatrics, and Thomas Boyce, M.D., Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
Medical Edge from Mayo Clinic is an educational resource and doesn't replace regular medical care. To e-mail a question, go to www.mayoclinic.org, or write: Medical Edge from Mayo Clinic, c/o TMS, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, N.Y., 14207. For health information, visit www.mayoclinic.com.
Source: Seattle Post - Intelligencer
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