July is Group B Strep (GBS) Awareness Month and as one of Group B Strep Support’s longest serving legal partners, we are delighted to do what we can to help raise awareness of GBS.
What is GBS
- GBS is a common bacterium that lives in the bodies of 20% to 40% of women.
- Like many bacteria, GBS can be passed from person to person by skin-to-skin contact.
- Carrying GBS is not harmful to you and most women carrying GBS will have no symptoms, but it can affect your baby around the time of birth.
- Very rarely, it can cause infection during pregnancy and before labour.
- Occasionally, GBS can lead to serious infection in newborn babies and tragically sometimes death.
Why does raising awarness of GBS matter?
On average in the UK and ROI, every month:
- 66 babies are diagnosed with a GBS infection.
- 56 (84%) will make a full recovery.
- 6 babies survive but will suffer long-term physical or mental disabilities.
- 4 babies die from their GBS infection.
As lawyers specialising in medical negligence claims and in GBS cases in particular, so often we find that many families only become aware of GBS after their baby has become seriously ill.
Through no fault of their own, parents are then left with a sense of guilt and regret wishing that they had known more.
This is borne out by surveys by GBSS which showed that two-thirds of new and expectant mothers (66%) are not receiving any information about GBS from a healthcare professional, despite 2017 guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (RCOG) recommending that this information be provided to all pregnant women.
Knowing about GBS when you are pregnant or shortly after your baby is born can however make a huge difference because crucially most GBS infections in newborn babies can be prevented. Early treatment and intervention when an infection does arise, can and does save lives.
When does infection occur?
GBS infections are most common in newborn babies in their first week of life and most commonly babies will become unwell within 12-24 hours of birth. Babies can however still develop GBS infections up to age 3 months and very rarely beyond.
Because of this, GBS infections are split into two categories: early-onset and late-onset infections.
- Early-onset Group B Strep infections – are those in babies 0-6 days old and occur in around 1 in every 1,750 babies in the UK and ROI. In these cases, infection is most likely acquired from the mother during birth.
- Late-onset Group B Strep infections – develop in babies 7- 90 days old and occur in around 1 in every 2,700 babies in the UK and Ireland. In these cases, infection cannot be prevented and is most likely acquired in the community.
How can the risks be reduced?
Information for Women
- All pregnant women should be provided with a patient information leaflet about GBS.
Antenatal Screening
- Currently, the NHS takes a risk-factor based approach to identifying GBS – using risk factors to determine which pregnant women and people should be offered antibiotics.
- Women who have been identified as carrying GBS in a previous pregnancy should be offered either intravenous antibiotics or testing.
Antibiotics
- Most early-onset GBS infections can be prevented with the use of intravenous antibiotics, given to women during labour if their baby has a higher chance of developing an early onset GBS infection.
- You should be offered intravenous (IV) antibiotics during labour if you:
- have had a urine infection caused by GBS.
- have had a GBS positive test, conducted either by the NHS or another accredited laboratory; or
- have previously had a baby that was diagnosed with GBS infection.
- If your waters break after 37 weeks and you are known to carry GBS then you should be offered an induction of labour straightaway to reduce the risk of your baby being exposed to GBS. You should also be offered intravenous antibiotics once induced.
- If you are not known to carry GBS but develop signs of infection while you are in labour, then you will be offered intravenous antibiotics. This will be aimed at treating a wide range of infections, including those caused by GBS.
- If your labour starts before 37 weeks, then you will be recommended to have intravenous antibiotics even if you are not known to carry GBS.
At present, there are no known methods to prevent late-onset GBS infection. These cases cannot therefore be prevented, and the key is early identification of the infection and urgent treatment.
Where does treatment go wrong?
- If the treatment that you or your baby received was negligent, causing you or your baby either injury or harm, you may be able to bring a claim for compensation as a result.
- The process of bringing a claim is not about punishing those who have made a mistake, but rather about putting you back in the position you would have been in had the negligence not occurred (in so far as money ever can in this situation).
- No amount of money will ever adequately compensate for the loss of a baby but crucially if your child has been left with long term disability and your claim is successful, it will result in financial compensation which will help secure appropriate care and support in the future.
- In early-onset cases, the typical issues we see tend to include:
- Failures to advise mothers of the risks if they have been identified to carry GBS in a previous pregnancy and to offer testing or antibiotics.
- Failures to recognise from the records that a mother has been noted to carry GBS and therefore offer intravenous antibiotics during labour; and
- Failures to pick up and act upon the signs of infection and treat the baby promptly after they are born.
- For late-onset cases as the GBS infection cannot be prevented, the key issues that we see are around failures to appropriately identify the infection and expedite the necessary urgent treatment
How can we help?
If you or your family have suffered because of failures relating to the treatment of a GBS infection, we will help you to recover appropriate compensation and secure the future.
