Group B streptococcus (GBS) colonisation during pregnancy can lead to invasive GBS disease (iGBS) in infants, including meningitis or sepsis, with a high mortality risk. Other outcomes include stillbirths, maternal infections, and prematurity. There are data gaps, notably regarding neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI), especially after iGBS sepsis, which have limited previous global estimates. In this study, we aimed to address this gap using newly available multicountry datasets.

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Group B streptococcus infection during pregnancy and infancy: estimates of regional and global burden

Authors: Bronner P Gonçalves, Simon R Procter, Proma Paul, Jaya Chandna, Alexandra Lewin, Farah Seedat, Artemis Koukounari, Ziyaad Dangor, Shannon Leahy, Sridhar Santhanam, Hima B John, Justina Bramugy, Azucena Bardají, Amina Abubakar, Carophine Nasambu, Romina Libster, Clara Sánchez Yanotti, Erzsébet Horváth-Puhó, Henrik T Sørensen, Diederik van de Beek, Merijn W Bijlsma, William M Gardner, Nicholas Kassebaum, Caroline Trotter, Quique Bassat, Shabir Madhi, Philipp Lambach, Mark Jit, Joy E Lawn, on behalf of the GBS Danish and Dutch collaborative group for long term outcomes, GBS Low and Middle Income Countries collaborative group for long term outcomes, GBS Scientific Advisory Group, epidemiological sub-group, and the CHAMPS team