21st December 2017
A new patient leaflet to help in the battle against group B Strep (GBS) has been launched and which is recommended to be provided to all pregnant women for the first time.
GBS is the UK’s most common cause of life threatening infection in newborn babies but recent surveys have shown that many pregnant women feel inadequately informed about the illness. On average:
- two babies a day develop the infection
- one baby a week dies from GBS infection, and
- one baby a week survives with life-changing disability.
This clear and concise patient information leaflet is to be provided to all pregnant women as part of their routine antenatal care.
The leaflet was jointly written by experts at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and the campaigning charity Group B Strep Support, and is based on the RCOG’s recently updated Green-top Guideline, Group B Streptococcal Disease, Early-onset.
The joint leaflet is now available online from the RCOG and from GBSS, and will be available as a hard copy in 2018 from Group B Strep Support.
