Group B streptococcus (GBS) is a common bacteria that many pregnant women carry. On average, 15% of all pregnant women worldwide – nearly 20 million a year – carry this bacteria in their vagina, usually without symptoms. But there remains a risk of transmitting it to the baby in utero, during birth, or in the first weeks of life. And transmission of the bacteria results in an estimated 100,000 infant deaths each year, 50,000 miscarriages and more than half a million premature births, not to mention significant long-term disabilities like cerebral palsy or hearing and visual loss.
A new report of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has just revealed the alarming global impact of this bacterium, and the Organization urgently calls for the development of a maternal GBS vaccine to reduce this toll.
Currently, the only way to prevent transmission of strep from mother to baby is administer antibiotics during labor if the bacteria is detected during pregnancy. But this does not prevent miscarriages or diseases that start after the baby is born. Hence the need for a vaccine recalled by the WHO. “Several group B strep vaccine candidates have been in development for almost 30 years, but none are yet available.” underline the health authorities who call researchers, vaccine developers and funders to accelerate the development of a vaccine that could be given to pregnant women during routine pregnancy check-ups.
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