Ann Slaughter wrote:
"He ended up on ABX because mom was GBS +.  With out them, he
would most likely be dead.  We just lost a baby last week to an unknown /
late diagnosed GBS +.  mom from newborn nursery to NICU in 24-48 hours
(normal behavior to seizuring)"

I just wanted to point out that "he would most likely be dead" is actually
an exaggeration. Here are the statistics:
15 to 20 percent of mothers are GBS+
of those, 40 to 70 percent of the babies  born will be colonized with GBS
of those babies, only 2% will develop an infection.

So just because his mother was GBS+ does not mean the baby would necessarily
be colonized with the bacteria, and even if he was, the chance of getting an
infection is only 2%. It may well be worthwhile to treat with antibiotics to
catch this 2% (of 40 to 70 percent) but I do not think it is accurate to say
that otherwise he would most likely be dead. Statistically, he would
probably be just fine.

(The percentages are taken from studies in the Cochrane database and
Effective Care in Pregnancy and Birth.)

Teresa Pitman

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