I don't know what's the occurence of GBS infections here (must've missed the article in ST), or what the practice is, well
this Daily Mail article has some important information on it. The following is an extract - don't you complain that it's too long.
The next few days were a blur. Katie and Tony sat by Lauren's side as their little baby battled for her life. At some point the blood tests came back to show that Lauren had Streptococcus B septic meningitis. (The effects to the baby can be read at the end of this extract)
An aunt found a website run by a charity called Group B Strep Support (GBSS), which explained that the bacterium is carried by the mother and passed to the baby during labour.
The literature about StrepB infections in newborns makes for chilling reading.
Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is the primary cause of bacterial infection in newborns. Every year around 700 are infected with it; 75 will die from septicaemia caused by the bacteria.
For babies such as Lauren affected after four weeks - when the bacterium usually presents itself as meningitis - the figures are even more grim: around one in ten die and a third of the survivors are left with significant brain damage.
GBS is passed immediately prior to or during birth, and can also cause premature births, stillbirths and maternal infections (putting the mother's health at serious risk).
What is so frightening is that
a third of pregnant women carry the bacterium but don't realise it. In fact a third of all adults carry the GBS bacterium - it doesn't affect them, but it is fatal for foetuses and babies. It's not clear why some babies are more susceptible than others, however, we do know that once a woman becomes a carrier, she remains so for life.
But as Katie was to discover later, a simple swab test routinely carried out in America and Australia in the latter stages of pregnancy would have established she was a carrier.
She could have then decided whether or not she wanted to have penicillin shots during the birth process, which would have all but eradicated the danger both to her baby and herself.
She did not have that choice nor do many other mothers-to-be. Although many women carry the StrepB bacterium, guidelines for midwives do not make informing mothers an essential part of antenatal care and, as a survey from Pregnancy and Birth Magazine revealed, a shocking nine out of ten pregnant women had never heard of the deadly bacterium.
This is all the more extraordinary because StrepB affects more infants than Down's syndrome or spina bifida - and it is treatable.
For while there is much public awareness about Down's and spina bifida, the tests for these are essentially for information only - the conditions can't be 'cured'. However, if a test reveals you carry GBS, a simple dose of antibiotics should ensure that the baby is unaffected.
...
(The test in America) be obtained privately at a cost of £32 (it's been estimated it would cost the NHS around £10 to offer it).
This test should be performed around the 25th and 37th week of pregnancy and tests show it can indicate likely infection for the next five weeks - up to and including term delivery. (Women identified as carrying GBS are given a simple dose of penicillin during labour.)...
This practice has brought down the GBS infant infection rate by 75 per cent. In Australia, after routine screening in 1994, the rate fell by 75 per cent and in Spain the rate was an even more dramatic fall of 86 per cent.
...
While it is 'shocking' that so few women appear to have heard of StrepB, it is not the testing that is the problem so much as what happens next, says Patrick O'Brien, spokesman for the RCOG.
Testing positive means 'either that the mother will, during labour, have to have a cannula inserted for the administration of penicillin, or an injection every four hours'.
('There is a danger of an allergic reaction to penicillin from both the mother and the baby.') Dr Heath's view is that having tested positive not every woman will choose to have antibiotics. 'But the point is she should be given the knowledge about whether or not she is a carrier so that she can make the decision for herself.'
...
Katie remembers that a week after Lauren was admitted she was stable enough to be sent for a CT brain scan. 'The next day the paediatric consultant gave me the results.
'The outside of Lauren's brain should have been smooth and round. Instead all around the edge were little depressions, as if someone had taken an egg spoon and tapped their way around the exterior. But although there was widespread damage, they didn't know exactly how Lauren's recovery would be affected.'
...
Further MRI scans confirmed the earlier diagnosis. Lauren had suffered brain damage which meant she would be blind, unable to use her limbs, and would suffer from learning difficulties for the rest of her life.