Group B Strep Support

Group B Strep Support is a small national charity dedicated to reducing avoidable group B Strep infections in newborn babies. Group B Strep is the most common cause of meningitis in babies under 3 months of age, and of severe infection in newborn babies in the UK. Although most babies will recover from their group B Strep infection, even with the best medical care, around 10% of these sick babies will die and around 7% of the survivors will suffer life-long disabilities, both mental and physical. Where babies develop group B Strep meningitis, almost half of the survivors will suffer life-long disabilities. Prevention is better than cure. Our work to reduce preventable group B Strep infection... read more Group B Strep Support is a small national charity dedicated to reducing avoidable group B Strep infections in newborn babies. Group B Strep is the most common cause of meningitis in babies under 3 months of age, and of severe infection in newborn babies in the UK. Although most babies will recover from their group B Strep infection, even with the best medical care, around 10% of these sick babies will die and around 7% of the survivors will suffer life-long disabilities, both mental and physical. Where babies develop group B Strep meningitis, almost half of the survivors will suffer life-long disabilities. Prevention is better than cure. Our work to reduce preventable group B Strep infections focuses principally on raising awareness and providing information both to families affected by group B Strep and their health professionals. Our services including our website, which attracts 9,000 visits each month, our helpline which is open every weekday, plus information materials which we provide without charge to health professionals and families. We help families coping with infant loss attributed to group B Strep, providing information and putting them in touch with other similarly affected families. We also do this for families whose sick baby has recovered, including those where the baby has been left with long-term disabilities. Every woman in the UK should be informed about group B Strep as a routine part of her antenatal care, with a sensitive test for group B Strep carriage at 35-37 weeks of pregnancy being offered to her on the NHS. Until such tests are available, pregnant women should be told of the availability of these tests privately. Every woman whose baby is at higher risk of group B Strep infection should be offered intravenous antibiotics in labour, which has been proven to reduce the chance of that newborn baby developing group B Strep infection by over 80%. We work with families and their health professionals to ensure the information materials we provide without charge to them are appropriate, accurate, easy to understand, and address their key concerns. We specifically invite feedback when new materials are under development and when existing materials are being updated. We work with professional bodies including contributing to all relevant consultations to improve national guidance on the prevention of group B Strep infection in babies, including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists, Public Health England, the Department of Health and the UK National Screening Committee. We also work with other charities working in the fields of pregnancy, newborn babies and meningitis.