Group B Strep Questions
QUESTION
Dear Midwife,
In my first pregnancy I wasn't tested. In my second pregnancy, they told me the test came back positive. I never understood what it was. What is Group B strep? How do you get it? Does it ever go away? If it doesn't harm me then why does it harm the baby?
ANSWER
The baby does not have your immune system when it is born, so there is a chance the baby will not be able to fight off the infection IF it even gets the infection when it is born. There is lots of good information about Group B Strep at on this page. Also see, Group B Strep FAQs and Group B Strep Infection.
The infection comes and goes in your vagina, even without treatment, but it takes two days to culture and find out if you even have it at the time of delivery. So the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) is now recommending that every woman be tested and offered treatment during labor if she is pregnant.
-- Cynthia, CNM
Cynthia Flynn
Cynthia Flynn, CNM. PhD, is the General Director of the Family Health and Birth Center which provides prenatal, birth, postnatal, gynecological and primary health care to underserved women and their families in Washington, D.C. Recently Cynthia served as Associate Professor of Nursing at Seattle University. There she not only taught, but remained in full scope clinical midwifery practice at Valley Medical Center where she cared for pregnant and birthing women, and practices well-woman gynecology, family planning, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
Cynthia founded Columbia Women's Clinic and Birth Center, where she took care of pregnant women and infants up to two weeks of age and attended both birth center and hospital births. Before Cynthia earned her CNM, she worked as a registered nurse in labor and delivery and postpartum and is a certified Doula and Doula trainer.
