********Petition to Downing Street re Group B strep screening - PLEASE SIGN *********

[Housemum]

Petition to Downing Street

The link here is to an e-petition to Downing Street to call for the screening of all pregnant women for this. For those who don't know, Group B Strep is carried harmlessly in around a quarter of the population and is often present in the vagina. If, however, this is passed on to a baby during childbirth, or if the waters break prior to birth and the infection is present the consequences can be fatal for the baby. A very close friend has just lost her baby at full term, and whilst they are awaiting full results from the hospital Group B Strep infection is the most likely cause. Tests to check for this cost around £30 - the NHS often don't screen as some methods of testing can be unreliable, but in other countries eg the USA it is a routine test. There are more reliable tests available - the GBS support website has lots of info that I won't repeat here as I have gone on enough.

Just sign the bloody petition please.

Rant over.

done, gbs got into my uterus and was vv ill for months after ds was born. so sorry for your friends loss

Signed

SparklyGothKat - GBS can come and go and doesn't always show up on the tests. If you have had it once assume you will always have it. I tested positive with DD1 but not DD2 and they both got ill. Many dioctors make the same assumption. Good luck!!!

Signed.

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Ackkkk - while I am terribly terribly sorry for losses suffered, I can't bring myself to sign this petition. Routine screening of all pregnant women? Goodness this is a whole can of worms. Aside from the cost of this, it seems to me like just another stick to beat pregnant women with, another excuse for introducing other "routine" interventions which are commonplace in other countries like routine use of antibiotics in labour, continuous fetal monitoring, routine separation of babies and mothers at birth. GBS is a very complex subject. But as another poster pointed out it's something many of us carry, and you can test negative for it one week and positive the next, and vice versa. Even if you carry GBS there is only something like a 1 in a 1000 chance you will pass it to your baby and even then there is only something like a 1 in a 1000 chance the baby will become seriously ill because of it. Babies that become ill with GBS infection are usually compromised in some other way - i.e already sick, or there are complications at birth. In the vast majority of normal, healthy pregnancies GBS is not a concern. I'd be campaiging for freedom of women to REFUSE GBS testing - this is becoming a major issue in the US - rather than campaigning for routine testing for everyone. Yes, education and awarness is great and people should be offered the option to test if they want, and given advice on how to deal with it if they have it, including things like avoiding artificial ruputure of membranes and excessive numbers of vaginal exams in labour (which increase the risk of infection.) I personally just don't support ROUTINE testing for everyone. Sorry!