can you get GROUP STREP B from other carriers?

[vannah]

ie - from the toilet seat?
Sorry if this seems a mad question. Ive got two mum friends who are both carriers, and though neither are pregnant at the moment - I am, (nearly 5 months) and wondering if each time they use my loo I need to disinfect?

I cant find anything concrete on the web. The official website says it neednt be contracted sexually, and that hand contact etc are ways to contract it.

ANy views on this?
Im a bit paranoid, as Ive forgotten to wipe the seat the last few times and am now worried ive got it.

thankyou

wash your hands and don't worry about the loo seat

thankyou, anyone else know about it or if im being paranoid?

Hi, I'm not a doctor but I work in Microbiology. This group B strep (GBS) hype seems to be getting out of hand. It is a bug that lives quite happily in the vagina of many normal women. You may or may not have it and shouldn't worry about contracting it from other people.

It can, however, get onto your baby during delivery and potentially cause serious diseases like meningitis and septicaemia.

The NHS doesn't generally check for GBS (too costly). It may be there in early pregnancy but not there later. Only important to test for it closer to delivery. If you are worried go to your midwife/Gp and they can send a swab to the lab. (Can do it provately but not worth it). You need to specifically mention your worry about Group B Strep otherwise Micro will not test for it. If you are positive, they may give you antibiotics around the time of labour and may also give your baby antibiotics just in case.

Most importantly, just watch your baby for signs of illness as other bugs can cause meningitis etc too. I'm 33 weeks and haven't bothered getting tested by the way.

Hope that helps.

I'm not a doctor either, but £32 for a test which can identify if my baby is at higher risk of developing a potentially prevent a life-threatening infection doesn't seem too costly to me. Certainly, it's not that common but, when it does cause infection, it can be deadly and if I can reduce the risk to my baby from a 1 in 300 risk as a carrier of group B strep, to a less than 1 in 6,000 risk as a carrier of GBS who has the recommended antibiotics in labour, then that sounds good to me. But if I don't have a test, than I can't find out if my baby's at higher risk because I'm carrying the bug and, from what I understand, most hospitals don't offer the sensitive test which is good at finding out if you carry GBS - the standard HVS they do only gives carriers a positive result up to half the time. See Group B Strep Support's website www.gbss.org.uk for more information about the various tests, and about group B strep too.