Some Women Prone To Carry Strep In Pregnancy

Black women, health care workers, and overweight women are at increased risk for carrying group B streptococcus (GBS) during pregnancy, new research suggests. GBS is a microbe that can live in or "colonize" the birth canal and then be passed onto the infant during birth, resulting in a potentially life-threatening infection. Better knowledge of factors that increase the risk of GBS colonization in pregnancy could help efforts to prevent or treat the infection and thus protect infants from serious complications, Dr. Renee D. Stapleton of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle and colleagues write in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.