Q & A: Group Beta Strep (GBS) - Part 1 of 2

Question: I had a question about home birth. My husband and I are considering home birth for our next child. My last pregnancy I had tested positive for Group b strep. I was wanting to know how safe it is to give birth
at home being a carrier of this? I was also curious of how commom this
is and the dangers that may come from the baby contracting this from
me? Thank you, Angela

Answer: First, let's start with a brief history of medicine and how progress is made. 1. We realize something bad is happening. 2. We try to find a way to prevent it from happening or cure it once it happens, usually with a lot of trial and error. Eventually, we find a way to prevent or cure. 3. If it's a prevention, we often start applying that prevention to everyone. (After all, if we can stop something bad from happening, why wouldn't we?) 4. We evaluate the prevention technique: Is it working? It is causing other problems?

Now, let's apply that to GBS:

Step 1: Out of every 10,000 babies, 2 are so severly ill that they often die from an infection found to be caused by Group Beta Strep.

Step 2: The source of this infection was from the mothers - depending on the area of the country you live in, between 25% and 50% of women have this bacteria present in their vaginas. Aside from an occasional urinary tract infection, the bacteria presents no problem in the mothers. It is not an STD, it is just part of what is normal flora for that woman. But sometimes this bacteria is passed on to the babies. And of those babies, every once in a while, one gets sick. And a baby who is sick from GBS is REALLY sick.

Step 3: In the 1990's, doctors in the US started administering IV antibiotics during labor to all women who were found to have GBS present in their vaginas during the third trimester.

Step 4: According to the CDC, for every 2 babies we are saving from a death due to GBS, we are running the risk of killing one mother. We are also exposing 25% to 50% of all babies born to antibiotics they likely don't need. This is contributing to the widespread problem of antibiotic resistant infection.

So, what are the alternatives? I'll tell you on Monday!