Group B Strep Awareness Week December 2007 - Help Save Babies Lives

butterflymum · 10 October 2007 at 3:50PM

Hi folks. I have supported this charity for a number of years. Perhaps some of you would like to help with fundraising, especially with Awareness Week 2007 drawing near. I have copied some info from the Charity below. Remember, your support could help save babies lives:

Group B Strep Awareness Week 2007

Charity Group B Strep Support (www.gbss.org.uk) is working to ensure every relevant health professional in the UK is fully informed about how most group B streptococcal (GBS) infections in newborn babies can be prevented.

Group B Strep Support is organising the UK’s second Group B Strep Awareness Week for 3-9 December 2007 – they’ll be sending packs of information and display materials to every maternity unit in the country; obtaining high profile media coverage in many magazines, journals and newspapers and ensuring celebrity TV and radio coverage.

If you’d like to help with Group B Strep Awareness Week 2007 by raising awareness or fundraising in your area, please contact them at [EMAIL="info@gbss.org.uk"]info@gbss.org.uk[/EMAIL] and they’ll be delighted to send you some information.

Teresa60 · 10 October 2007 at 5:18PM

Hi butterfly, thanks for bringing this to peoples attention. I suffered from this in 1998 and had a premature baby because of it who sadly only lived for 12 days. I did the fundraising week a few years ago, taking packs into our local maternity unit, but nothing seems to been achieved since then unless I havent heard anything.

I just wish it could be part of the antenatal treatment for pregnant mums to be swabbed and treated for B strep which must cost a lot less than keeping a baby in a special care unit for months on end.

Good luck.
x

butterflymum · 10 October 2007 at 5:32PM

So sorry to hear of your own tragic experience, teresa60. Whilst they discovered I was a carrier at the end of my 2nd pregnancy and my baby was put on antbiotics after the birth, thankfully he was fine. I know, like yourself, many other mums had a less happy outcome. Some have lost (and indeed still do) their baby or their baby has had to experience very ill health, with sometimes longterm damage being caused.

Here we are in 2007 (GBSS celebrated their 10th anniversary a year or so ago) and it is still a fight to get what women need. GBSS are continually trying to make headway in achieving change (and plenty is still happening in the background, I'm certain) - unfortunately it does, though, sometimes mean repeating things that have gone before. To this end, there is yet another Petition to Government - you may want to add your support as well. Here are some details:

GBS Petition to the Prime Minister

In conjunction with Group B Strep Support, Pregnancy & birth magazine is petitioning the Prime Minister for every woman in the UK to be offered a sensitive test for group B Streptococcus (GBS) at 35-37 weeks of pregnancy on the NHS, and for every pregnant woman to be given accurate information about GBS as a routine part of her antenatal care. If you would like to sign this petition, please visit http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/groupbstrep/.

Carrying GBS is normal - up to 30% of adults do, usually in the intestines although in women it's very common in the vagina. Carrying GBS causes no symptoms and requires no treatment. GBS can be passed to a baby around labour but usually this isn’t a problem. Sadly though, for some babies, it can be serious, causing blood poisoning, pneumonia and meningitis. However, testing women late in pregnancy - and offering antibiotics through a vein at intervals once labour has started to those whose babies are at higher risk - would prevent 80% or more of all GBS infections in newborn babies. Reliable screening is not currently available in the UK but GBSS believes it should be – which is why we’ll be presenting the Prime Minister with the petition.

Please do ask your friends and family also to sign the petition – the more names on there, the more powerful the message it sends to the Prime Minister.

And, if you’d like to ask your MP to support this campaign, that would be fantastic

pipjes · 23 October 2007 at 8:12PM

i have just found out at 26 weeks that i have group strep b, with my 3rd child, i was planning a home water birth again, but this looks very unlikely. im aslo absolutly pretrified after reading everything on gbs,i probably ahoulsnt read things on it really, but it just seems that most of the sotries i read the outcome is awful.......im also panicking about a hospitla birth, i have downloaded some info from the group strep b website to read in bed tonight, to try to put my mind at ease i hope................

code-a-holic · 23 October 2007 at 8:26PM

This awareness week is great. I was a carrier with my 2nd and then 3rd child. I struggled with midwives awareness. I was not given any injection during labours and babies not had any antibiotics or even discussed. I asked numerous times about it but was told there was no need. After speaking to my doctor he said it isnt always seen as necesary in quick births. 2nd was 3 hrs and 3rd was 15 minutes. I have never found confirmation of this so feel quite angry about it. Im very lucky not to have healthy children but i know of many cases where the mothers queries have gone unheard and then having childen with problems or who have died as a result.

05_cheeky_monkeys · 23 October 2007 at 8:56PM

I wasnt aware of this awareness week so thank u for bringing it to my attention too.

I myself had BStrep in 1997 when i had my first daughter and unfortunatly she contracted BStrep during being born prematurely.

We were very very lucky and with some help from special care she is now a healthy 7 yr old but i know that this is a really serious condition which people should know about and be aware off.

I hadnt even heard about BStrep until my daughter was ill and i am now preganant again and even 7 yrs later there is still not much information in books or from midwifes etc about it!

I believe that in America that it is standard practice in the last few weeks of pregnancy that mum has a cheap easy test for BStrep but It is not offered over here and it only costs something like £10 (which i would be willing to pay myself not even from NHS).

I was lucky and have been offered antibiotics in my last labour which is recommended if u have been a BStrep carrier but i gave birth only 40 mins into my labour but my youngest daughter did not contract BStrep.

I will happily sign the petition :T

kizzykizzywizzy · 24 October 2007 at 11:00PM

pipjes wrote: »

i have just found out at 26 weeks that i have group strep b, with my 3rd child, i was planning a home water birth again, but this looks very unlikely. im aslo absolutly pretrified after reading everything on gbs,i probably ahoulsnt read things on it really, but it just seems that most of the sotries i read the outcome is awful.......im also panicking about a hospitla birth, i have downloaded some info from the group strep b website to read in bed tonight, to try to put my mind at ease i hope................

Please please don't worry, I have 2 heathly children & all they did was put an antibiotic drip into my hand for the strep B.

butterflymum · 6 November 2007 at 5:21PM

Just a reminder - only one month to go until awareness week.

britvic · 7 November 2007 at 12:23PM

I found out at 34 weeks that i had gbs i was only swabbed to check on unexplained bleeding I was having. Luckily I had antibiotics through a drip while I was in labour and my daughter was fine. It gets me so angry that this isn't a routine test. It would save many lives and would save the nhs money as a swab and antibiotics is a lot cheaper than the extra care involved in looking after ill babies. Why cant they ever see sense!!!!
Sorry had to have a little rant. Have signed petition and will be doing some charity work soon I think.
Vic

butterflymum · 9 November 2007 at 6:20PM

Thanks for sharing your experience and signing the petition. Group B Strep have just re-designed their website, so if anyone hasn't yet had a look, now would be as good a time as any:

www.gbss.org.uk

or the fundraising page at

http://www.gbss.org.uk/sponsorship.php?section_id=13&section=donate

Thanks, again, for everyone who has felt able to do fundraising, volunteer help, or sign the petition, I'm sure GBSS will appreciate it.

butterflymum · 2 December 2007 at 12:56PM

Group B Strep Awareness Week Starts Tomorrow!

3rd - 9th December 2007

Awareness saves lives. Group B Strep Support wants every relevant health professional in the UK to be fully informed about how most group B streptococcal (GBS) infections in newborn babies can be prevented. And they want every pregnant woman also to be fully informed about GBS, so she can - in conjunction with her health professionals - decide what is best for her and her baby.

Group B Strep Awareness Week December 2007 - Help Save Babies Lives

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