Group B Strep: How long has this been going on?

Factual Questions
1

Once again I find myself totally behind the curve: my pregnant daughter has informed me she tested positive as a Group B strep carrier in her 37th week of her pregnancy and now must have IV antibiotics during her labor. I of course Googled and Wiki’d and have learned all about this, but what I want to know is when did this testing and treatment become standard practice? Because until today, despite having two children, I’ve never heard about this. And I mentioned it to a coworker who has a six-year-old and read EVERYTHING during her pregnancy…and she hadn’t heard of it, either.

So when did this situation, that apparently affects 25% of women, get identified as a problem and began to be a pregnancy protocol? And what else do I need to know about this situation, besides the fact that it seems to be messing up her plans for a cheap and quick stay at the hospital. She had hoped to stay home to labor as long as possible, but now needs to start the antibiotics as soon as labor begins and every four hours after that. Since they are uninsured and having to self-pay, this changes the budget drastically.

2

It was being done 5 years ago when I did my OB/GYN clinicals.

3

I was tested 13 years ago when I delivered my daughter, but not 16 years ago with my son.

4

It was a hot topic in the 1980’s, for sure. I was testing and treating select patients up to 1990, before I gave up OB.

ACOG formally published guidelines for intrapartum prophylaxis with antibiotics in 1996.

This link contains some history: Prevention of Perinatal Group B Streptococcal Disease

5

Thanks for the link, QtM. That clarified a lot for me. I had both my kids in the early 80’s and have been really out of touch since then! Now I feel better prepared to deal with any questions.

The article mentioned that this was recognized as an issue in the 70’s. There was one line in there about late-onset GBS that got me to wondering about the baby my parents lost to meningitis at age 4 months in the mid-50’s, but I suppose there are other ways to get meningitis, if that was even the real cause of death (my mom always said it was “crib-death” until we read the death certificate where meningitis was listed).