A few weeks before my delivery, I sat in my doctor’s office, swinging my swollen feet off the end of the examination table while the doctor quizzed the new intern.
“Now last week we gave this patient a test for Group B Strep. Where do we usually test for this? In the mouth?” the doctor asked. The intern paused for a moment and I tried to hold back laughter. Obviously I knew where the test had been performed, and it was definitely not in my mouth.
Group B Strep is not the same as Group A, which is the strain that causes a Strep infection in the throat. Group B Strep is a bacteria that is found in a woman’s vagina or rectum. In fact, it can typically be found in 15%-40% of healthy women. A woman may not show any signs of infection if she is a carrier, but if she tests positive for the bacteria, it is possible for her to pass the infection on to her baby, which is dangerous. About 1 in 200 babies in the United States whose mothers carry GBS become ill with GBS disease. Symptoms include breathing problems, heart and blood pressure instability, gastrointestinal and kidney problems. Possible complications include sepsis, pneumonia and meningitis.
The test for Group B Strep involves swabbing the vagina and the rectum, then sending the sample to a lab to be analyzed. Results are available in 1 to 2 days. (So you can see why I chuckled when the doctor asked if the test was done in the mouth!)
The test is typically done between 35 and 37 weeks. If a pregnant woman tests positive for Group B Strep, she will be hooked up to IV antibiotics during delivery. This will greatly reduce the chances of passing the bacteria on to her newborn child.