ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to determine the characteristics of early onset neonatal sepsis (EONS) due to group B streptococci (GBS) in our population and to evaluate the efficacy of a prevention program in our hospital during a 4 year period. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We revised all cases of EONS due to GBS between 1985 and 1994 and studied pregnant women colonized by GBS and their infants between 1991 and 1994. RESULTS: In ten years, we diagnosed 45 cases of EONS due to GBS, 30 born in our hospital and 15 born in other hospitals. Sixty-two percent of the patients presented some risk factor (gestation < 37 weeks, rupture of membranes > 18 hours or intrapartum fever > or = 37.8 degrees C. Between 1991 and 1994, 93% of pregnant women colonized by GBS received antibiotic prophylaxis, 14.7% of these women had some risk factor for infection. Two infants from mothers colonized had EONS due to GBS. One mother did not receive antibiotic prophylaxis and the other presented intrapartum fever. In another 5 cases observed during this period, the vaginal culture of the mother was negative for GBS. The incidence of EONS due to GBS during these 4 years was 0.82 cases per 1,000 live births. CONCLUSION: We consider it necessary to use antibiotic prophylaxis in all pregnant carriers of GBS, as well as the administration of antibiotics to pregnant women with a rupture of membranes < 34 weeks of gestation and the practice of an intrapartum culture for the detection of GBS in pregnant women without previous cultures and premature rupture of the membranes.
