title: Screening for early-onset invasive group B Streptococcal disease in neonates in an Irish hospital (2001-2014): a retrospective audit.
abstract: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is the most common cause of early-onset neonatal sepsis and meningitis. In babies with no clinical suspicion of infection, who are at risk of early-onset invasive disease based on maternal risk factors, blood cultures are taken to detect bacteraemia. In our institution, lumbar punctures are performed in infants with clinical signs of sepsis but not in infants who are well at the time of screening. Between 2001 and 2014, there were 112,361 live births weighing >500 g, of whom 13,959 (12.4%) infants had a blood culture taken on the first or second day of life, and 1971 (14.1%) of these infants had lumbar punctures on these first two days of life. Fifty-three cases of early-onset GBS disease were identified. Only three patients with invasive GBS disease had no clinical suspicion for sepsis at the time of testing. Thus, the number of blood cultures taken to detect one case of GBS bacteraemia in an infant who is well at the time of testing was 3996.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Microbiology , Rotunda Hospital , Dublin 1 , Ireland.
authors.forename: Maryke
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: b Department of Neonatology , Rotunda Hospital , Dublin 1 , Ireland.
authors.forename: Naveed
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sheikh
authors.affiliation: b Department of Neonatology , Rotunda Hospital , Dublin 1 , Ireland.
authors.forename: Eoin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
authors.affiliation: c Irish Meningitis and Sepsis Reference Laboratory , Temple Street Children's University Hospital , Dublin 7 , Ireland.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meehan
authors.affiliation: a Department of Microbiology , Rotunda Hospital , Dublin 1 , Ireland.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: LeBlanc
authors.affiliation: d Department of Obstetrics , Rotunda Hospital , Dublin 1 , Ireland.
authors.forename: Maeve
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eogan
authors.affiliation: b Department of Neonatology , Rotunda Hospital , Dublin 1 , Ireland.
authors.forename: Afif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: El-Khuffash
authors.affiliation: a Department of Microbiology , Rotunda Hospital , Dublin 1 , Ireland.|c Irish Meningitis and Sepsis Reference Laboratory , Temple Street Children's University Hospital , Dublin 7 , Ireland.|e Department of Microbiology , Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland , Dublin 2 , Ireland.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Drew
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013129:Spinal Puncture; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D013292:Streptococcus agalactiae / Q000302:isolation & purification*
keywords: Group B Streptococcus; bacteraemia; early-onset sepsis; meningitis