Group B Strep Test

[Chloejp91]

Hello.
I was wondering whether you get tested for this in the UK? I haven't seen it anywhere really and was wondering if it's tested at all?
Thanks in advance!

It's not routinely tested for in the UK. Think you can pay for it though.

Hi, I was tested for it when had a routine swab checking for thrush, didn't know about it at the time but was told the result because I did have strep B. Hope this helps.

I was tested for it with ds2 because of ongoing UTI's. The first I knew was also the results letter in the post telling me I was positive

It's not done routinely, but you can get it done privately- it's relatively cheap and easy.

very useful site

Oh okay, thankyou.
I'll talk to my midwife about it tomorrow and see what we can do cause I don't want to take my chances really.
I'll have a look at the site too, thanks!

I ordered a kit from the link the PP put up just before Christmas.

My GP's wife just had a baby and he told me that he suggested I get the test even though it was private as in his opinion it was worth doing.

Hi

Funnily enough, I went to my nurse today and had my swabs done this morning. I'm paying to get tested priavetely - i got my kit here:
www.mumstuff.co.uk/acatalog/Group-B-Streptococcus-Screening-Test-Kit.html

the kit was posted to me, and then it costs ££32 to get the results done. I think you can do the swabs yourself, but I'm just a bit crappy at things like that. The swabs need to be done between 35-37 wks.

Not sure of the actual figures, and I know it's really quite slim that you have it, but I had a friend who's baby died because of this - as she had a homebirth and it happened quite quickly - so I wasn't taking any chances.

There's a charity set up for preventing group B Strep infections in babies - Group B Strep Support.

Their website is here and there's information on the availability of testing for GBS during pregnancy at this page - hope that's useful!