The media love to raise the specter of dead and maimed children as a
scare tactic to convince the public that more vaccines are necessary.
The truth about group B strep is that pregnant women are tested in the
days before giving birth, and if they are found to be GBS-positive,
given ampicillin during delivery to prevent GBS infection of newborns.
GBS vaccination is completely unnecessary. Additionally, GBS exists in
the gut without causing harm, and may actually be useful. It's only
worrisome when it is present in the birth canal during delivery.
Eliminating it completely from the body could cause unknown damage.

Progress in Quest for Group B Strep Vaccine

Study Shows Vaccine Is Effective in Women of Childbearing Age
By Charlene Laino
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
Oct. 30, 2009 (Philadelphia) -- Researchers are a step closer to
developing a vaccine to protect pregnant women against a serious
bacterial infection that is a leading cause of death and disability in
newborns.

The bug is called group B streptococcus, more commonly referred to as
group B strep. Pregnant women with group B strep infection or who are
colonized with the bacteria -- meaning they carry the bug but aren't
sick from it -- can transmit the bacteria to the fetus during
delivery. It's commonly found in the vagina and rectum, with about 25%
of women carrying it at any time; most will carry the bacteria and
have no symptoms.

Group B strep can cause life-threatening infections in newborns in the
hours after birth, during the first week of life, or even several
months later, says Neil Fishman, MD, an infectious diseases specialist
at the University of Pennsylvania.

Currently, women are screened a few weeks prior to delivery; if the
test is positive, they are given antibiotics to wipe out the
infection. "But this isn't perfect as the bacteria can be resistant to
the antibiotics," Fishman tells WebMD.

Developing a vaccine against group B strep is a major goal, he says.

The new study involved 650 women of childbearing age who were not
carriers of group B strep. About half were given the new vaccine. The
women were checked for group B strep bacteria twice a month for 18
months.

The vaccine caused a modest but lasting reduction in group B strep
colonization in the vagina and rectum, says researcher Sharon Hillier,
PhD, of the Magee-Womens Research Institute at the University of
Pittsburgh. Colonization of the genital or gastrointestinal tract is
the major risk factor for infections.

The vaccine also elicited a strong immune response against the
bacteria, she tells WebMD. And the vaccine was safe.

Emory University's Larry Pickering, MD, a senior advisor to the CDC's
National Immunization Program, says that while preliminary, the work
is very encouraging.

"It's important in that they showed it prevented colonization" in both
the GI tract and vagina, he tells WebMD. "But there's still a lot of
work to do."