VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2
FALL 2006

Welcome to the fall newsletter from GBSI, a non-profit organization committed to promoting GBS awareness worldwide.

What is Group B Strep?

GBS is a bacteria that is naturally found in the digestive tract and birth canal of 1 in 4 pregnant women. These women “carry” or  are “colonized” with GBS. However, GBS  can come and go at any time so each pregnancy can be different. Babies  can be “infected” by GBS before birth and up to 6 months of age because of their underdeveloped immune systems.

October is SIDS, Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month

Each year in North America alone over 19,000 babies are diagnosed with GBS disease. This does not  include the unknown number of miscarried and stillborn babies who die before birth from GBS— think of how many more babies are infected and die worldwide!

Help us to promote Group B Strep Awareness and Prevention in your community! Please see below for ways you can help honor babies who have died from GBS and even help prevent future babies dying from GBS.

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Announcing GBS-Angels Memorials

In honor of October being Infant and Pregnancy Loss Awareness Month, GBSI has created the GBS-Angels.com memorial web site.

At GBS-Angels.com, for a small donation, you can have a memorial created for your little one. The memorial can include your child’s name, date of birth/loss, and a special message or poem you would like to display. If desired, you may upload a picture to be used in your memorial. You will also receive a beautiful 8x10 copy of your child’s memorial mailed to your home. All proceeds go to support GBSI and its GBS prevention and awareness efforts. Click here to visit GBS-Angels.com.

February 2007 is the First Prenatal Infection Prevention Month

GBSI will be sponsoring the first Prenatal Infection Awareness Month on the National Health Observance Calendar.  The focus will be on awareness of how invasive procedures can cause babies to become infected before birth and giving mothers reliable information as to the risks vs. the benefits of any procedures. We welcome input from other organizations and medical professionals as to other causes of prenatal infections besides GBS that could be prevented with caution regarding invasive procedures.

Membrane Sweeping and GBS: A Litigious Combination?

“Although it led to a defense verdict, a recent lawsuit suggests sweeping in a colonized patient can expose you to litigation”

Recently a case was heard in a Philadelphia Court, concerning an infant death as a result of membrane sweeping. The mother was GBS-positive, and the OBGYN performed a membrane sweeping to hasten the onset of labor. The testimony in the case against the doctor stated that the membrane sweeping of a GBS positive woman was below the standard of care. Unfortunately due to lack of documented clinical cases, the jury was unable to find the OBGYN responsible in this case. 

More and more cases like this are being filed in US courts, and it has started to raise red flags, and to make doctors think twice before membrane sweeping. Doctors are being warned against sweeping membranes, even if they have been extremely successful, in GBS-positive mothers. They are afraid of litigation.  We need more mothers to stand up and present their case, to get more accurate statistics.  The more cases that are known, the better chance we will have in influencing change and making membrane sweeping GBS-positive women a thing of the past.  The American College of OBGYN, The CDC, and other agencies will then be forced to take action and perhaps change the standard of care, which will discourage membrane sweeping in GBS-positive pregnant women.  

We extend our condolences to the parents and family of this child who succumbed to GBS. We also praise their courage to fight for their child, and other children that unfortunately will have to die before new standards are instituted regarding membrane sweeping in GBS-positive women, and any other women who might have a vaginal infection while pregnant.

To read the full text of this article please click here.

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Join Our International GBS Awareness Campaign

You can help in our campaign to promote GBS awareness and prevention. Parents, friends, and healthcare professionals are needed to deliver our message about GBS. Here are just a few ways you can help:

Parents ~ Grandparents ~ Friends

• Share your GBS story on our website
• Distribute GBSI’s brochure in your community
• Call the health editor of your local newspaper to do an article on GBS
• Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper
• Wear GBS awareness ribbons (order here)
• Check our online shop for great GBS awareness items including postage stamps, buttons, magnets, and more
• Make GBS awareness ribbons (instructions here)
• Provide awareness materials for your health professionals
• Request awareness month recognition and GBS information on pregnancy boards
• Forward GBS news articles to GBSI
• Help GBSI raise funds to prevent GBS disease in babies around the world!

Fluent in languages other than English?

Help GBSI to translate our written materials and communications into other languages.

Healthcare Professionals

• NEW! Download GBSI's PowerPoint slideshow for medical professionals for your next presentation!
• Give GBSI’s brochure to your patients at their first prenatal visit
• Give GBSI’s tear sheet to your patients when they test GBS-positive
• Wear GBS awareness ribbons (order here)
• Wear “I test for GBS” stickers or buttons, especially in countries without universal screening (order here)
• Request awareness month recognition and GBS information in your workplace and on medical websites
• Forward GBS medical articles to GBSI

Please join our awareness campaign to help prevent Group B Strep disease in babies!

About Group B Strep International

Our mission is to promote international awareness and prevention of Group B Strep disease in babies before birth through early infancy.

Our goal is to be a central resource for GBS information in a variety of languages for both the general public and medical professionals.  The scope of our mission includes actively supporting the GBS awareness and prevention efforts of individuals and organizations on a community or national level.

Group B Strep International (GBSI) was formed in April 2006 by John MacDonald and Marti Perhach who each lost a daughter to Group B strep (GBS). Both John and Pam MacDonald’s daughter, Hannah, and Chris and Marti Perhach’s daughter, Rose, were stillborn full-term.

John and Marti each began to promote GBS awareness and prevention on a national level throughout the United States. Group B Strep International has been founded to expand the scope and the audience of this campaign.

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