24 JUNE 2013
July is Group B Strep Awareness Month
Conservative MP Nicholas Soames launches charity Awareness
Month – A Simple Test to Save a Life
Haywards Heath based charity, Group B Strep Support, launches its July Awareness Month
with support from Mid-Sussex’s Conservative MP, Nicholas Soames. The charity’s
campaign – A Simple Test to Save A Life – promotes better awareness and prevention of
life-threatening group B Strep infections in newborn babies.
1 in 4 women carry the group B Streptococcus (group B Strep/GBS) bacterium and it can be
passed from mother to baby around birth. Every year, GBS infects up to 700 babies and is
the leading cause of sepsis and meningitis in newborn babies. Of those babies affected,
10% will die and 5% will suffer long-term physical or mental disabilities. Yet most of these
infections could be prevented - simply, cheaply and easily.
GBS infection is up to 90% preventable and with proper testing and treatment of pregnant
women – as is routine in the US, Canada, Australia and other European countries, both
major economies such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain, but also Lithuania, Slovenia and
Poland. Testing is so important since approximately 25% of pregnant women carry GBS and
about half of infections in newborn babies are where the mother has no recognised risk
factors. A simple and inexpensive test in later stages of pregnancy (35 to 37 weeks) can
detect the bacteria, allowing treatment to be given to the mother during labour and so
preventing infection in the newborn baby.
The ‘gold standard’ method of testing (Enriched Culture Medium (ECM) is not widely
available on the NHS.
Nicholas Soames supports Group B Strep Support’s national campaign calling for routine
testing and calling for better prevention of group B Step infections babies in the UK. “Every
mother-to-be should be advised about group B Streptococcus as part of her routine
antenatal care and so I am very pleased to offer my staunch and on-going support to this
important campaign.”
Haywards Heath mum, Dawn Abbotts, also supports the campaign for all pregnant women
to be offered information and routine testing on the NHS. Dawn unknowingly carried GBS
when she had her son Alex in 2000 at The Princess Royal Hospital. “GBS was detected
shortly after Alex was born. They informed me that he was ill and gave me a leaflet! He was
then administered IV antibiotics and both he and I remained in hospital for over a week. If
only I’d known then what I know now and I cannot believe that the UK does not test for
GBS.”
Jane Plumb, Chief Executive of Group B Strep Support says, “
“July Awareness Month gives us an opportunity to focus all our efforts into raising
awareness of GBS among parents-to-be and health professionals and support the families
who have been affected. The Government should act now to ensure women get the very
best advice and support during their pregnancy.”
Group B Strep Support is asking that:
 Information about GBS should be routinely given to all women as part of their antenatal
care
 Sensitive testing for GBS should be made freely available within the NHS and offered to
every pregnant woman whose baby is at low risk of developing GBS infection
 Antibiotics should be offered intravenously in labour to all mums whose babies are
known to be at higher risk of developing GBS infection
 The use of the ‘standard’ test within the NHS for the detection of GBS carriage in
pregnancy should cease and vaginal swabs from pregnant women should always be
tested using a method that offers good sensitivity for GBS detection
Sarah Jane Chapman has created a petition, ending on 31 December 2013, asking The Department
of Health to ensure women are routinely offered testing for group B Strep in every
pregnancy. Please read it at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43712 and consider signing
it, and sharing it with your friends and family.
For further information:
Jane Plumb, Chief Executive, Group B Strep Support for comment or greater detail
Tel:
01444 416176
e-mail:
jplumb@gbss.org.uk
For further press information
Sarah Fiedosiuk, media and awareness, Group B Strep Support on 01444 416176
email:
sfiedosiuk@gbss.org.uk
Group B Strep Support, P O Box 203, Haywards Heath, RH16 1GF www.gbss.org.uk.
Registered Charity No 1112065. Company Registration No 5587535
Notes to editors:
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Group B Strep is a normal bacterium carried by up to 30% of adults. It can be passed from
mother to baby around labour. This causes no problems for most babies: for others can be
deadly, causing blood infection, pneumonia and meningitis.
Group B Strep is the most common cause of life threatening infection in newborn babies. In the
England, Wales & Northern Ireland, the reported number of these infections has increased from
229 to 281 between 2003 and 2011 (up by 23%) and the rate per 1,000 live births has increased
from 0.37 to 0.38 (up by 3%) since the introduction of the Royal College of Obstetricians &
Gynaecologists’ 2003 prevention guidelines. These increases come despite the expectation of
significant falls in group B Strep infections in newborn babies following the introduction of the
Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists’ 2003 guidelines. Data sourced from annual
CDR/Health Protection Reports
http://www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/InfectiousDiseases/InfectionsAZ/StreptococcalInfections/Epifemi
ologicalData/
A report on preventable death and disability caused by group B Strep calls for routine screening
as incidence continues to rise in newborn babies in the UK was launched by Group B Strep
Support at House of Commons event on 28 June 2012
www.gbss.org.uk/filepool/2012_06_28_GBSS_Report.pdf.
Newborn babies are at higher risk of developing group B Strep infection if there are certain ‘risk
factors’ present during the pregnancy, labour and delivery. These are: Mum carrying group B
Strep during the current pregnancy, Mum having a urinary tract infection caused by group B
Strep during the current pregnancy, a previous sibling having developed group B Strep infection,
Mum’s waters breaking more than 18 hours before delivery, labour starting or waters breaking
before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy and Mum having a fever in labour.
ComRes interviewed 1,000 20-35 year old women in the UK online between 28^th October and
1^st November 2011. Data was weighted to be demographically representative of 20-35 year
old women in the UK. The full data tables are available at www.comres.co.uk
(http://www.comres.co.uk/).
A few NHS trusts make sensitive testing for group B Strep available to pregnant women at the
request of their health professionals, but most don’t. A number of private medical laboratories
do – packs containing the necessary swabs are supplied free, with the postal service for carrying
out the test costs around £35. See http://www.gbss.org.uk/test for the availability of sensitive
testing following the Health Protection Agency’s B 58 from NHS trust and private laboratories. It
has been estimated that the providing the test on the NHS would cost around £11.83 each.
Group B Strep Support has no links and receives no money from any laboratory.
Group B Strep Support provides information and support to families and health professionals
affected by group B Strep. It is the UK’s only charity dedicated to the prevention of group B
Strep infection in newborn babies and provides comprehensive and reliable information on
group B Strep, both printed and online. Group B Strep Support is supported by an independent
medical advisory panel http://tinyurl.com/GBSS-MAP.