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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffIf you're pregnant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a group B strep screening between weeks 35 and 37 of pregnancy. Your doctor will take a swab sample from your vagina and rectum and send it to a lab for testing. A positive test indicates that you carry group B strep. It doesn't mean that you're ill or that your baby will be affected. It simply means the potential for newborn infection exists, and you can take steps to protect your baby.
If you've already given birth and your doctor suspects your baby has group B strep disease, a sample of your baby's blood or spinal fluid will be sent to a lab for evaluation.
Group B strep infection and group B strep disease are diagnosed when the bacteria are grown from cultures of the fluid samples. The cultures take several days to grow, so it may be two to three days before you receive the results of the lab analysis.
- Puopolo KM, et al. Group B streptococcal infection in neonates and young infants. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Sept. 28, 2010.
- Group B strep prevention: Frequently asked questions. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/GroupBStrep/general/gen_public_faq.htm. Accessed Oct. 4, 2010.
- Group B strep prevention: Adult disease. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/groupbstrep/general/gen_public_adult.htm. Accessed Oct. 4, 2010.
- 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 Oct. 4, 2010.
- Ogle JW, et al. Infections: Bacterial & spirochetal. In: Hay WW Jr, et al. Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Pediatrics. 19th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aid=3410745. Accessed Oct. 4, 2010.
- Lachenauer CS, et al. Group B streptococcus. In: Kliegman RM, et al. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/221546375-2/0/1608/528.html?tocnode=54478925&fromURL=528.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2450-7..50185-7_4188. Accessed Oct. 4, 2010.
- Baron M, et al. Group B streptococcal infections in nonpregnant adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Sept. 28, 2010.
- Apgar BS, et al. Prevention of group B streptococcal disease in the newborn. American Family Physician. 2005;71:903.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, et al. Prevention of perinatal group B streptococcal disease. MMWR. 2002;51:1. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5111a1.htm. Accessed Oct. 7, 2010.
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