Group B Strep
Guidelines and Recommendations

Below are selected prevention and treatment guidelines, recommendations, frameworks, approaches, and other documents related to group b strep. Also see related links on this page.

Prevention of Perinatal Group B Streptococcal Disease: Revised Guidelines from CDC (2002)
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5111a1.htm
PDF
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5111.pdf
Data collected after the issuance of the 1996 guidelines prompted reevaluation of prevention strategies. The new recommendations are based on available evidence and expert opinion where sufficient evidence was lacking. Although many of the recommendations in the 2002 guidelines are the same as those in 1996, they include some key changes: 1) Recommendation of universal prenatal screening for vaginal and rectal GBS colonization of all pregnant women at 35-37 weeks' gestation; 2) Updated prophylaxis regimens for women with penicillin allergy; 3) Detailed instruction on prenatal specimen collection and expanded methods of GBS culture processing; 4) Recommendation against routine intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis for GBS-colonized women undergoing planned cesarean deliveries who have not begun labor or had rupture of membranes; 5) A suggested algorithm for management of patients with threatened preterm delivery; and 6) An updated algorithm for management of newborns exposed to intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis. Group B streptococcus (GBS) remains a leading cause of serious neonatal infection despite great progress in perinatal GBS disease prevention in the 1990s.

Prenatal Screening is Most Effective Strategy to Prevent Newborn Strep B Infections (Press Release) (2002)
http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/r020724b.htm
NEJM Web Site
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/347/4/233 (Non-CDC site)
Routine screening for group B streptococcus late in pregnancy is the most effective way to prevent transmission of the bacteria from mother to child during delivery. The data were published in the July 25, 2002 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Guidelines issued in 1996 to prevent transmission of the bacteria from mother to newborn recommend that health care providers use one of two methods. The new data show that the prenatal screening method was more than 50 percent more effective in preventing transmission than the clinical risk factor method. The new guidelines will be published in the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Group B streptococcal disease remains a leading infectious cause of illness and death among newborns in the United States, resulting in approximately 1,600 illnesses and 80 deaths each year.

Related Links

Group B Strep: Women's Health Topics A-Z
http://www.cdc.gov/women/az/gbstrep.htm

Guide to Community Preventive Services
http://www.cdc.gov/epo/communityguide.htm

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This page last reviewed November 29, 2004
URL: http://www.cdc.gov/women/gderecom/falls.htm

US Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Office of Women's Health