Negative GBS result. Can I rest assured?

[mimosatree]

Had a cervical swab at the hospital at 33 weeks as they thought I might be going into premature labour and they also tested for GBS. I'm now 36 weeks and I've been told the test is negative for GBS. My previous two births I tested positive and had to have IV antibiotics during labour, so can this really be good news? I read somewhere that once you have GBS it never really goes away and also the test that I was planning to do privately around this time involves taking a swab of vagina and perineum not the cervix like they did at the hospital.
I'm a bit confused! Can anyone advise me? Ta. X

the Group B Strep Support group is an amazing wealth of information, take a look there. they recommend testing at 35-37 weeks to get a more accurate result that is predictive of gbs carriage at birth. its NOT true that if you have gbs you've got it for life. ive heard people on here say it but its NOT true!!

oh, and i guess based on teh gbss advice, your test result at 33 weeks wouldn't be reliable on teh assumption that labour at full term. but if you do have a premature labour then it would be more reliable....so i guess its up to you whether you retest based on the liklihood of a premature labour.

Thank you. I rang them and they advised me that the cervical swab is less reliable than the vagina + rectum. Plus, as you rightly say, it may have been too early to test if I go to full term.
Makes me wonder why isn't GBS taken more seriously .

thats good. its great that they can offer advice over the phone. as i want to get some clarity over whether if you are positive if you don't have antibiotics is monitoring of baby reliable or how reliable is it. i also wonder why hospitals don't really understand it all- as last time my hospital insisted their policy was antibiotics AND monitoring for 48 hours. which was fine for me then, it was an excuse to not be booted out as it were on their usual 6 hr discharge, as i wanted help with breastfeeding. but this time with a toddler at home i just want to be home as soon as possible!

Umboo you can't imagine how stressed I am once again because of GBS! I saw my midwife for my 36 weeks routine appointment today and I mentioned I was going to do a private GBS test. Her boss was there and she butted in saying that unless I was "showing symptoms of GBS" or I had had "a child affected by GBS before" it was not necessary to treat with antibiotics So I said that actually most of the time there are NO symptoms AND perhaps the fact that DS1 and 2 were not "affected by GBS" was thanks to the fact that I WAS treated with antibiotics while in labour?? She said "giving antibiotics also carries risks, you know?" which made me go
As a lovely finale I asked her if I'd be treated if I did the private test and it was positive and she couldn't say yes or no to the question, said she would look into it!
I really really don't understand this laissez faire attitude to a potentially life threatening but easily avoidable problem. If I complain of headaches they want me in immediately to check blood pressure, etc, but they may not take any notice of a positive GBS result??? I'm at a loss!

wow i'm truly truly shocked i mean its not just her ignorance but her attitude! i would seriously be considering putting in a complaint, if not now (given that you are 36 weeks its probably not high on your list of priorities...) but later.

my mw for ds1 also didn't know enough about it, in that i was tested + at about 25 weeks from a swab taken when i had food poisoning. i asked my mw if i should retest closer to the delivery date, and she said its unlikely to be any different, my status probably won't change during the pregnancy.

if you can't have the antibiotics then i would look into speaking to her supervisor?

i still want to know though whether its as safe to monitor for 24 hours as opposed to taking the antibiotics, as the GBSS do seem to say that if you don't have the ABs then baby should be monitored but its not clear whether its identical in effectiveness. what your mw said is true, there are risks in taking antibiotics (but the midwife shouldnt treat you as though you want them just for the hell of it either!)

Where I work if a woman has tested positive at any point in her pregnancy or she had a previous baby that was affected by GBS then she should get IV abx in labour. If she doesn't get the required 2 doses then we give the baby IV abx for 5 days.

I've had confirmation from the hospital that the result of the private GBS test won't be taken into account so I shouldn't bother with it. Apparently their policy is to take all risks factors into account and decide whether to treat the baby after the birth.
I'm at a loss as to what to do about this other than making a formal complaint which will take months to resolve and won't really help me in the mean time.

i think all this just shows the lack of knowledge about gbs, like you say mimosatree. vivalebeaver i understand that a few hospitals have the policy you describe. its a shame thought because its certainly not what the gbss (who have a robust medical panel, they're not a patient peer support group rather they're a medical group of some sort) advise. mimosatree perhaps you could contact the gbss again and see what they advise? but at least the hospital is offering you another option, that they will monitor the baby afterwards.

Umboo, I've just had a look at the gbss.org website and you're right - they recommend observation for 24-48 hours. Interesting, I might give them a ring/email them and ask them what research they base their receommendation on. I'd be up for going back to work and saying the advice/research states this so maybe we ought to change our protocol. If it means that we stop giving babies 5 days of what looks like unecessary abx then that would be good. Thanks.

I am amazed at the medical professions attitude concerning GBS, on my third pregnancy tested positive at 36 weeks, in was told not to worry it's very common and we will give you antibs during labour, ds turned breach ay 37 wkd I there fore ended up having an elcs and no antibiotics, ds was symthomatic straight away ie grunting, he ended up in nicu for two weeks with pneumonia and septicaemia, had a blood transfursion, two lumbar punctures, was ventilated, thankfully no meningitis, he is now 9mths old and fine and healthy, I have researched a lot since and I did read that GBS is the most common cause of preterm labour, still birth and death in neonates, yet the medical profession will have you believe that GBS is only contractable after rupture ofnthe membranes during labour, get the antibiotic, its a nasty infection and therenisnso little awareness out there.

vivalebeaver thats brilliant! i obviously totally understand you wanting to check out the evidence base first, but if that leads to a change in policy that would be fantastic!! :)

mimosatree i've been thinking about this today, and i wonder (from my non medical point of view but just mulling it over) whether your negative result- apart from the method of testing issue- is still on balance of probabilities fairly reliable at 33 weeks. given that it is only 2 weeks short of the recommended testing date. the gbss recommend 35-37 weeks as evidence shows that is most reliable at predicting gbs carriage at birth. i wonder if there is a sliding scale, at which the predictive value of a test decreases as the time period between the test and birth increases (if that makes sense). if this is right, then your test would only be a little less reliable than at 35 weeks, but not as bad as , say, a test much earlier on in the pregnancy. of course this is all speculation on my part, but i'm trying to give you something to hold on to given that it sounds like there's nothing you can do :(

abayababe i didnt know you needed ABs for an elcs when gbs+. sorry to hear your story but good to hear that your ds is well now :)

Umboo- Antibiotics Are never given to GBS positive women during a c section because the chances of it being passed on to the baby are virtually nil, my doctor couldn't even recall it ever happening, however it happened to me and he is fine now and we are very grateful to have him, but i think the medical profession need to take it more seriously.