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What is Group B streptococcus?
Group B Streptococcus (often called GBS) are very common bacteria. Many people carry it naturally in the gut or vagina without feeling ill. But GBS matters in pregnancy because it can spread to the baby during labour. Most babies are fine. But, there’s a very small risk that GBS could make a baby very ill. Some babies can develop serious problems like blood poisoning, pneumonia, or meningitis.
Screening could reduce the risk to babies. This would mean testing all pregnant women, even if they have no symptoms. One option is to screen and swab every woman in the last few weeks before the due date. If she carries GBS she might want to have antibiotics during labour.
Why might screening not be a good idea?
All screening has the potential to help or harm. It can flag things that would never have caused problems, leading to unnecessary worry and treatment. Screening can sometimes raise false alarms. A test result can suggest something is wrong but further tests show there’s no issue, which can be stressful. It can miss some real cases. This can give false reassurance and delay diagnosis and treatment. Before starting or changing any screening programme, we need to understand if it works better than not screening, or better than the current approach.
What are we trying to find out?
The UK National Screening Committee wants to find out whether screening for GBS before birth would lead to better outcomes for babies. Or better results than the current approach which looks at the woman’s risk for GBS and monitors her newborn for symptoms. We can help the committee to look at the outcome for both options. We will build a computer model of the processes involved in screening women for GBS.