Caution:  I have not read the original article in Pediatrics.  This report
says nothing about differences in rate of infection with and without
treatment, only about the clinical course in infants who become ill even
after prophylactic antibiotics to mothers in labor.
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway
This article is posted at:

http://womenshealth.medscape.com/reuters/prof/2000/08/08.09/20000809clin003.
html
Signs, Symptoms of Neonatal GBS Infection Unaffected by Intrapartum
Antibiotics
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WESTPORT, Aug 09 (Reuters Health) - Administration of antibiotics during
labor to prevent vertical transmission of group B streptococcal (GBS)
infection does not appear to alter the clinical presentation of infants who
become infected despite these efforts, according to researchers at Kaiser
Permanente Southern California.

Antibiotic exposure also does not delay the onset of clinical signs of
infection, Dr. Patricia Bromberger and colleagues in San Diego report in the
August issue of Pediatrics.

Management practices for infants at risk of group B streptococcal infection
"may have substantial implications for hospital expenditures and resource
allocation," the investigators say in the journal. With this in mind, they
retrospectively examined the effects of exposure to intrapartum antibiotics
on the clinical manifestation of early-onset group B streptococcal
infection, and the implications of exposure for the management of at-risk
infants.

"Exposure to antibiotics during labor did not change the clinical spectrum
of disease or the onset of clinical signs," Dr. Bromberger and colleagues
write. In the vast majority of infants, clinical signs of infection could be
observed within the first 24 hours of birth.

The findings imply that, for at-risk infants exposed to intrapartum
antibiotics, a 48-hour stay is not required to monitor those who remain
asymptomatic at 24 hours, the authors conclude. In other words, the decision
to observe infants at risk of group B streptococcal infection past 24 hours
"should rest on the evaluation of the clinical status of the infant, not on
the presence of maternal risk factors or intrapartum antibiotic treatment."

Pediatrics 2000;106:244-250

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