i have a friend thats 36weeks pregnant and she found out today that she has Group B streptococcus she has already lost her mucus cord,the baby is already down and she 50%thin doctor did not give much info about it..should she be worried or is there something she should do now???The doctor just sent her home instead of sending her to the hospitial to get her on ivs and get the baby out
Hello, your GBS bacteria are found in pregnant women vagina or rectum. It can be found in 25% of all healthy adult woman also. Normally a pregnant female is tested between 36-38 weeks for GBS infection. If she is positive for GBS, that means she is colonized, and she has a risk of transmitting this infection to her baby. However, only 1 in 200 babies born to GBS positive mother becomes ill. Normally treatment for this is IV antibiotics(Penicillin) given to mothers during delivery. Antibiotics given before labor is not useful to prevent the transmission as this bacteria stays int he guts, and they can come back after antibiotics. This is the reason why her physician sent her home without medication, as he will start her on IV antibiotics as soon as she gets in labor. However, when she gets into the labor, she may remind the physician or the nurse regarding her GBS status.