Group B streptococcus (strep) is a bacterium often carried in the intestines or lower genital tract. While usually harmless in adults, group B strep can cause serious illness in newborns.<\/p>\n
Not all babies exposed to group B strep become infected, but for those who do, the results can be devastating. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, group B strep is the leading cause of sepsis and meningitis in newborns.<\/p>\n
Group B strep is present in approximately 1 in 4 pregnant women. It can cause miscarriages or stillborn or premature births. If you’re pregnant, get a group B strep screening during your third trimester. If you have group B strep, antibiotic treatment during labor can protect your baby.<\/p>\n
Group B strep can also cause dangerous infections in adults who have certain chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes or liver disease. Left untreated, group B strep in adults can lead to infections in the blood, bones, joints, skin and lungs. While rare, the rate of serious group B strep infections increases with age.\u00a0However, it is usually easily treated with antibiotics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Group B streptococcus (strep) is a bacterium often carried in the intestines or lower genital tract. While usually harmless in adults, group B strep can cause serious illness in newborns. Not all babies exposed to group B strep become infected, but for those who do, the results can be devastating. According to the Centers for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3385,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_hpuaeo_plugin_post_data":"","_hpuaeo_plugin_meta_tags":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletters"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n