RE: Strep B

[P & A Koziol]

Dear Jo I am always interested in what I see as the hysteria that surrounds the Strep B debate. I work in a private hospital and the women here are all under the care of their own Dr. The hospital itself does not have a policy regrading treatment of strep B  as each Dr has trained under a different system. They keep up to date and are aware of current treatment options practised at the public hospitals in surrounding suburbs. I trained in a public system which treated all women who were positive with antibiotics in labour and was horrified the first time I saw a Dr ignore this "rule". That was many years ago. Some Dr's still treat known Strep B women in labour this way, most do not. We watch the infant closely and treat the infant, if an infant is affected they will usually develop symptoms of illness within the first 24 hours. I have not seen many babes who succumb to Strep B infections in the last 20 years  and of these, many of the mothers have been of unknown status at birth as most of the Dr's do not subject women to vag swabs in pregnancy. I am not trying to minimise the risks which Strep B will bring to some infants, but I personally think that this risk is overated for the majority of women and their babes, and the option which we follow is a safe alternative to intervening in pregnancy and labour   Regards   Alesa   Alesa Koziol Clinical Midwifery Educator Melbourne