Group B Streptococcus Awareness Month: Vaccine and Challenges Underway

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a leading cause of maternal, fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide, being associated with 3.5 million preterm births, 319,000 neonatal infections and 147,000 neonatal deaths annually (Seale et al., 2017; Steer et al., 2020). Asymptomatic anovaginal colonization of pregnant women is the main risk factor for neonatal GBS infections, which are usually derived from vertical transmission. An estimated 18% of pregnant women worldwide are asymptomatically colonized by GBS (Seale et al., 2017), but this rate varies from 10 to 40% according to the country.
Source: International Journal of Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research