What Will Occur if I Group B Streptococcus Screening Test Positive?
A favorable result means only that you bring the bacteria– not that you or your baby will certainly end up being ill, even if you don’t get appropriate treatment.
Getting antibiotics during labor does decrease those chances by a substantial factor: For example, if you’re a GBS provider without any other risk factors (you’re 37 weeks or more, don’t have a fever, and your membranes have not been ruptured long), your baby’s odds of getting infected are about 1 in 200 without treatment and about 1 in 4,000 if you do get dealt with.
Treatment also lowers your own possibilities of establishing a GBS infection (such as a uterine infection) during labor or postpartum, as can often take place.
If you’re GBS-positive, you’ll begin getting antibiotics as soon as your labor begins or your water breaks, whichever comes first. (The only case where you would not need treatment for GBS is if you have a cesarean section prior to your water breaks or you enter into labor, despite how far along you are.).
Ideally, you’ll want to get going on the antibiotics a minimum of four hours prior to you give birth, however if your labor is extremely quick you might not have that much time. Bask that getting started even a couple of hours before delivery helps in reducing the risk to your baby. And attempt not to fret, due to the fact that the possibility that your baby will get ill– especially if he’s full-term, you do not have a fever, and your membranes aren’t burst for long– is small.
What if I Go Into Labor Prior to My Outcomes Are Readily Available?
If, when you go into labor, you have no idea whether you’re carrying the bacteria, you’ll be treated with antibiotics if you have any of these risk factors:.
- You go into preterm labor, or your water breaks prior to 37 weeks.
- There’s a long delay (18 hours or more) between your water breaking and your delivery.
- You establish a fever during labor (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher).
If a quick test is available and you don’t have any risk factors, your caretaker may opt to do the test and then treat you if the results are positive. (If the fast outcomes are negative, but you go on to develop risk factors, you’ll be treated at that point due to the fact that, as pointed out earlier, the rapid test may miss some GBS cases.)
What Are the Risks or Side Effects From Taking Antibiotics During Labor?
You’ll probably be provided penicillin, which is the drug of choice for dealing with GBS and understood to be safe for children. Ten percent of pregnant women who take penicillin establish mild allergic symptoms, such as a rash. In very uncommon cases, penicillin causes a severe allergic reaction that needs first aid (1 in 10,000 cases) and might even be lethal (1 in 100,000 cases).
If you’ve had an allergy to penicillin in the past, your specialist will ask the laboratory to test your culture to learn which other antibiotics will work versus your GBS. If you’re not exactly sure whether you’re allergic to penicillin, you might be provided a skin test to discover whether you can securely use this drug.
Next to read: Group B Streptococcus and Your Baby
