Prevalence of group b Streptococcus colonization in antenatal women at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre – a preliminary study

Abstract

97 antenatal clinic attendees were recruited in a study aimed to determine the prevalence of group B streptococcus (Streptococcus agalactiae) among pregnant women at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre. Participants were interviewed using a standard questionnaire to gather demographic and other relevant information such as history of current pregnancy, antibiotic use within the last two weeks, previous miscarriages and stillbirths. Two specimens (low vaginal and rectal swabs) were taken per participant and processed using standard bacteriological methods. Age range of the participants was 19 to 37 years with a mean of 27.3 (SD 5.68) while parity ranged from 0 to 6 (mean of 3.1). All but 2 of the women were married; 95% had some form of education and 36.1% had previously had bad pregnancy outcomes. Specimen analysis showed that sixteen (16.5%) of the participants were GBS positive yielding a total of 27 isolates all of which were sensitive to penicillin G and erythromycin. Of those with GBS, 7 (44%) reported being HIV positive, 5 (31%) negative, while 4 refused to disclose their HIV serostatus.14 (87.5%) of the 16 GBS-positive women had had bad pregnancy outcomes prior to the present study and while colonization appeared to decrease with age, it increased with the number of previous bad pregnancy outcomes (p=<0.05).

Malawi Medical Journal Vol. 17(3) 2005: 97-99