Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the proportion of adults who carry group B streptococus.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Studies undertaken1 to date indicate group B streptococcus could be carried in the gut and genital tract of 20-30% adults. Carriage of the organism in mouth and throat is less well assessed but thought to occur in less than 10% of adults.
Note:
1 Rodriguez-Granger J, Alvargonzalez JC, Berardi A, et al. Prevention of group B streptococcal neonatal disease revisited. The DEVANI European project. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 2012; 31(9): 2097-104.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of treating a baby with group B streptococus infection.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Public Health England have been collaborating with researchers in Cambridge on a study assessing the potential cost-effectiveness of maternal group B streptococcus (GBS) vaccination in anticipation of a vaccine becoming available in the coming years. As part of this assessment, the cost of treatment of infants with GBS infection is being evaluated and will be available at the conclusion of the study.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the most common infections caused to new-born babies by group B streptococus.
Answered by Philip Dunne
If a baby develops group B streptococcus infection (GBS) infection less than seven days after birth, it is known as early-onset GBS infection. Most babies who become infected develop symptoms within 12 hours of birth.
Symptoms include:
- being floppy and unresponsive;
- not feeding well;
- grunting;
- high or low temperature;
- fast or slow heart rates;
- fast or slow breathing rates; and
- irritability.
Most babies who become infected can be treated successfully and will make a full recovery. However, even with the best medical care the infection can sometimes cause life-threatening complications, such as:
- blood poisoning (septicaemia);
- infection of the lung (pneumonia); and
- infection of the lining of the brain (meningitis).
Early-onset GBS infection can cause problems such as cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness, and serious learning difficulties.
Late-onset GBS infection develops seven or more days after a baby is born. Most commonly the baby presents with sepsis. It is not usually associated with pregnancy. The baby is most likely to have become infected after the birth, for example, they may have caught the infection from someone else. GBS infections after three months of age are extremely rare.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will list for (a) new-born babies and (b) babies aged between seven and 90 days the signs of group B streptococcus infection.
Answered by Philip Dunne
If a baby develops group B streptococcus infection (GBS) infection less than seven days after birth, it is known as early-onset GBS infection. Most babies who become infected develop symptoms within 12 hours of birth.
Symptoms include:
- being floppy and unresponsive;
- not feeding well;
- grunting;
- high or low temperature;
- fast or slow heart rates;
- fast or slow breathing rates; and
- irritability.
Most babies who become infected can be treated successfully and will make a full recovery. However, even with the best medical care the infection can sometimes cause life-threatening complications, such as:
- blood poisoning (septicaemia);
- infection of the lung (pneumonia); and
- infection of the lining of the brain (meningitis).
Early-onset GBS infection can cause problems such as cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness, and serious learning difficulties.
Late-onset GBS infection develops seven or more days after a baby is born. Most commonly the baby presents with sepsis. It is not usually associated with pregnancy. The baby is most likely to have become infected after the birth, for example, they may have caught the infection from someone else. GBS infections after three months of age are extremely rare.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the proportion of babies with group B streptococus infection that (a) die and (b) develop long-term health problems as a result of that infection.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The table below provides the number of deaths registered in 2015 to those aged between 28 days and under one year in England and Wales where the underlying cause of death was group B streptococcus (GBS) infection. It is not possible to identify a single underlying cause of death for babies born under 28 days.
It is estimated one in 10 babies born with GBS will die from the infection. Estimates have suggested that GBS will cause long term disability in approximately 25 babies a year.
Number of deaths registered to those aged between 28 days and under 1 year where the underlying cause of death was GBS infection, 2015, England and Wales
ICD-10 code | Underlying cause of death | Number of deaths registered | Percentage of all deaths at ages 28 days to one year |
A40.1 | Sepsis due to streptococcus, group B | 1 | 0.1 |
B95.1 | Streptococcus, group B, as the cause of diseases classified to other chapters | 0 | 0 |
J15.3 | Pneumonia due to streptococcus, group B | 0 | 0 |
P23.3 | Congenital pneumonia due to streptococcus, group B | 0 | 0 |
P36.0 | Sepsis of newborn due to streptococcus, group B | 1 | 0.1 |
P39.8 | Other specified infections specific to the perinatal period | 2 | 0.2 |
Notes:
Source: Office for National Statistics
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions Ministers of his Department have had with the group B streptococcus support group on testing for that infection.
Answered by Philip Dunne
My Rt. hon. Friend the former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health (Ben Gummer) met representatives from the charity Group B Strep Support (GBSS) and my Rt. hon. Friend, the Member for Mid Sussex (Sir Nicholas Soames), patron of GBSS to discuss group B streptococcus (GBS) in December 2015.
The Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser held two workshops on 19 September and 20 October this year with leading experts from a wide range of organisations, including the charity GBSS to agree workable research questions on early-onset GBS to improve knowledge of the infection. The first workshop discussed evidence gaps in relation to early-onset GBS and the second workshop developed science-based research questions for funders to consider.
On 17 November officials met with GBSS to discuss recent policy developments including the publication of Safer Maternity Care, and the Maternity Transformation Programme.
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is currently reviewing its recommendation on antenatal screening for GBS carriage as part of its three yearly review cycle. A public consultation is being held which will close on 25 January 2017. Following the closure of the consultation, the UK NSC will review its recommendation on screening for GBS carriage in pregnancy and a recommendation will be made to Ministers.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of using intravenous antibiotics in preventing the transmission of group B streptococcus infection to at-risk new-born babies.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists published a revised green-top guideline in 2012 on the prevention of early onset neonatal group B streptococcal (GBS) disease. The purpose of the guideline is to provide guidance for obstetricians, midwives and neonatologists on the prevention of early onset neonatal GBS disease. It recommends offering intrapartum penicillin prophylaxis to women with a risk factor that is associated with invasive GBS disease in their newborn baby. These are:
- previous baby with invasive GBS infection
- GBS bacteriuria in the current pregnancy
- vaginal swab positive for GBS in current pregnancy
- pyrexia (>38 °C) in labour
- chorioamnionitis
In addition the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published a clinical guideline which addresses early onset GBS and other neonatal infections, ‘Antibiotics for early-onset neonatal infection: Antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of early-onset neonatal infection’ (August 2012). The clinical guideline is available at:
http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg149
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of babies who don't receive preventative medicine who then go on to develop group B streptococus if their mother is (a) a carrier and (b) not a carrier of that infection.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The UK National Screening Committee’s most recent evidence review estimated that in a population of 776,352 pregnant women, which includes those delivering at term and preterm, there would be approximately 163,000 carriers of group B streptococcus (GBS) at the point of delivery. If all carriers were untreated there would be about 450 cases of early onset GBS equivalent to 0.3% of babies born.
Information about the number of women receiving preventative treatment for GBS is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in new-born babies.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The most common cause of neonatal meningitis is bacterial infection of the blood, known as bacteremia. (The specific bacteria are Group B Streptococci).
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of (a) an enriched culture medium test performed in an NHS hospital and (b) processing a home-testing pack for the diagnosis of group B streptococus infection.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Information is not available centrally on laboratory costs.
In June 2015, Public Health England (PHE), in response to requests to introduce the enriched culture medium (ECM) test into PHE laboratories, advised and published a position paper which sets out that within current accepted clinical guidelines, there are no indications for testing women using ECM methods. The position paper is available on the gov.uk website at: