title: An overview of the natural history of early onset group B streptococcal disease in the UK.
abstract: Clinicians need information on the risk of Early Onset Group B Streptococcal disease (EOGBS) for counselling pregnant women and to decide who would benefit most from antibiotic treatment during labour. We carried out a systematic review of the research literature and conducted meta-analyses to obtain estimates for the natural history of EOGBS that are representative of the UK population. The mean rate of colonisation for the UK was 14% and we found weak evidence that the prevalence is increasing over time. Maternal GBS colonisation was more likely in women who delivered preterm compared with at term. Just over one-third of babies born to colonised mothers become colonised with GBS at birth (36%), and 3% of colonised babies develop EOGBS bacteraemia. In the UK, EOGBS constitutes one-third of all early onset bacteraemia due to pathogens, in contrast to one-half in the USA.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guildford Street, WC1N 1EH, London, United Kingdom. t.colbourn@ich.ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Colbourn
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gilbert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013292:Streptococcus agalactiae; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology