Prevalence of Group B Streptococcus Colonization in Mothers and Babies at Abha General Hospital, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Objectives: To find out the prevalence of Group B Strep-tococcus (GBS) carriage in pregnant women in their third trimester and in their new-born babies, in Abha, KSA. Methods: One hundred and five (105) consenting pregnant women, 35 weeks gestation, attending Abha General Hospital (AGH) ante-natal clinic, were enrolled for the study. High vaginal swabs were taken from the pregnant women while swabs from the external meatus and the umbilicus of babies were similarly taken and cultured for GBS. Identification of GBS was according to standard microbiological procedures. Results: Five out of the one hundred and five (5/105, 4.76%) of the pregnant women and 1/5, (20%) of the babies born to the colonized women, were positive for GBS. The infected baby however, did not manifest any GBS disease. The six GBS isolates were all sensitive to vancomycin and ampicillin and were resistant to gentamycin and cotrimoxazole. Conclusion: We confirm the low prevalence of GBS carriage in pregnant women in Abha and suggest that further studies be done to find the reasons why.