Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffGroup B streptococcus (strep) is a common bacterium often carried in your intestines or lower genital tract. Although group B strep is usually harmless in adults, it can cause serious illness in newborns — a condition known as group B strep disease.
Group B strep can also cause dangerous infections in adults with certain chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes or liver disease. Older adults are at increased risk of illness due to group B strep, too.
If you're a healthy adult, there's nothing you need to do about group B strep. If you're pregnant, get a group B strep screening test during your third trimester. If you have group B strep, antibiotic treatment during labor can protect your baby.
- Repke JT, et al. Patient information: Group B streptococcus and pregnancy. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2008.
- Group B strep prevention: Frequently asked questions. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/GroupBStrep/general/gen_public_faq.htm. Accessed Sept. 2, 2008.
- Group B strep prevention: Beyond newborns and mothers - some facts about group B strep disease in the rest of the population. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/groupbstrep/general/gen_public_adult.htm. Accessed Sept. 2, 2008.
- Group B strep prevention: Protect your baby from group B strep! Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/groupbstrep/general/protect-your-baby-GBS.htm. Accessed Sept. 2, 2008.
- Puopolo KM, et al. Group B streptococcal infection in pregnant women. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2008.
- Urinary tract infections in women. American Academy of Family Physicians. http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/women/gen-health/190.html. Accessed Sept. 16, 2008.
- Puopolo KM, et al. Group B streptococcal infection in neonates and young infants. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2008.
- Baron M, et al. Group B streptococcal infection in nonpregnant adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2008.
