sedgiebaby - there are NO symptoms.
This is taken directly from the GBSS website:
"GBS is a normal bacterium which is carried by up to 30% of adults, most commonly in the gut, but for up to 25% of women, in the vagina too."
"GBS can be present at any time - in a woman's first pregnancy, or in subsequent pregnancies. It can be a threat during pregnancy, around delivery and afterwards.
There are five recognised situations which increase the chance that a baby will be exposed to GBS, if susceptible, of developing GBS infection. Each of the risk factors shown panel below increases the risk of GBS infection in a newborn baby:
Mothers who have previously had a baby infected with GBS ? risk is increased 10 fold
Mothers who have been shown to carry GBS in this pregnancy or GBS has been found in the urine at any time during this pregnancy ? risk is increased 4 fold
Any of the following clinical risk factors ? risk of GBS infection is increased 3 fold for each
Labour starts or membranes rupture before 37 weeks of pregnancy is completed (i.e. preterm).
Where there is prolonged rupture of the membranes ? more than 18 hours before delivery.
Where the mother has a raised temperature* during labour of 37.8°C or higher.
*If a woman has an epidural, a slightly raised temperature may be of less significance than in a woman with no epidural.
Carrying GBS, combined with one or more clinical risk factor, increases the risk at least 12 times.
75% of early-onset GBS disease and 90% of resultant deaths follow deliveries with one or more of these risk factors.
About half of the babies born to mothers colonised with GBS at the time of delivery will become colonised themselves and, of these, only around 1 in 200 will develop GBS disease, even without any preventative medicine during labour. Carrying GBS during labour and delivery does not mean necessarily that you or your baby will become ill.
Simply carrying GBS previously, without a positive test result during the current pregnancy, does not mean a woman should be offered intravenous antibiotics in labour unless one or more other risk factors are also present.
Must I have intravenous antibiotics if I?ve had a positive result during this pregnancy?
If you have had any positive GBS test result from the vagina or rectum during the current pregnancy, you should be offered intravenous antibiotics from the onset of labour or membrane rupture until delivery. However, you may choose not to have them if there are no additional risk factors - only a small percentage of babies born to colonised mothers will develop GBS infection. However, if you decide against antibiotics, it would be prudent for the baby to be observed by trained staff for at least 24 hours (and ideally for 48 hours). If the positive test was from the urine, this means that the GBS was more invasive, and so antibiotics will be recommended even if a vaginal swab is subsequently negative. "
My personal experience is that I have been one of the lucky ones. I had two children and was not tested. When pregnant with my third child I was tested and found positive, but due to the speed of my labour, my son was born at home, no time for hospitals or antibiotics. I did watch him like a hawk for 48 hours, ready to rush to hospital if needed. But he was fine.
There are others on mn that have had babies with gbs at birth and have had them in scbu being treated. There are also women here who have lost there baby due to gbs.
So it is important to be informed of the risks, and of the extra things (like premature rupture of membranes) that increase your risk and increase the benefit of having antibiotics in labour.
For another website putting a different viewpoint on antibiotics in the case of GBS look at
this website, it does refer to homebirth an GBS but the information in it is helpful even if not considering homebirth.
It is an individual choise that needs to be made carefully. I hope that you are able to get all the information you need to make your own decision.