Neonatal Group B Streptococcal bacteraemia in India: ten years' experience

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is an infrequent cause of neonatal septicaemia in many developing countries. In a perinatal centre in India with 60,119 li ve births between 1988 and 1997, GBS was isolated from blood cultures of 10 babies. Thus the incidence of GBS bacteraemia was 0.17 per 1000 live birth s. Lethargy, respiratory distress and poor perfusion were the presenting fe atures in eight symptomatic babies. Two babies had meningitis, three requir ed ventilatory support and one died. There were no cases of late onset dise ase. The low incidence could be due to the low rate of colonisation and hig h prevalence of protective antibody in the mothers.