More efforts urged to prevent newborn illness

ATLANTA (Reuters) -- More women should be screened or given antibiotics during labor to reduce the chance their babies will be born with group B streptococcus, the most common cause of life-threatening infections in newborns, health experts said Thursday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said health-care providers were missing opportunities to check pregnant women for group B streptococcus bacteria that can be passed on to newborns.

The CDC said 20 to 25 percent of pregnant women were carriers of the bacteria. The agency recommended that physicians check for the infection late in pregnancies and, when appropriate, administer antibiotics intravenously during labor.

"A woman who is at risk who receives antibiotics has about a 1-in-4,000 chance of delivering a baby with group B streptococcal disease, compared to a 1-in-200 chance if you don't receive antibiotics," said Stephanie Schrag of the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases.

The CDC said the disease was the most common cause of life-threatening infections in newborn infants, occurring more often than better known newborn problems such as rubella, congenital syphilis and spina bifida.

One in every 20 babies will die as a result of contracting group B streptococcus, which is a frequent cause of newborn pneumonia.

Cases of the illness declined 65 percent between 1993 and 1998, but about 1,600 infants were born with the disease last year, Schrag said.

"In addition to the mortality, there are fairly long-lasting effects in infants that survive. There can be neurological damage. There can be hearing and vision disorders and learning disabilities," Schrag said.

"Women who are pregnant should talk to their doctors about this disease so that they can make sure that they receive the benefits of prevention," she added.

Group B streptococcus can also cause illness in the elderly and in adults with diabetes or liver disease.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Prevention of Perinatal Group B Streptococcal Disease

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