Everyone Dr. Boyd here. Welcome back to parently. Today we're talking about one of the most important topics in late pregnancy. Are you Group B strep positive? Or are you Group B strep negative. The bacteria called Group B streptococcus lives in the vagina lives in the rectal area of 25% of all women.

That's a large number of patients, but it's a normal bacteria that lives there and does nothing harmful to you, if you're not pregnant. If you become pregnant, and have Group B strep as a positive in your vagina or your rectal area, this bacteria potentially can cause severe injury to your baby in the form of pneumonia, or meningitis. So at 36 weeks gestation, your health care provider will swab your vagina And your rectal area with a cotton swab, that is going to determine if you are Group B strep positive or negative. Now if your group B strep positive, very, very important that you know that so that if you go into the hospital, you can immediately tell your nurse I am Group B strep positive. Now, why is this so important? You have to understand that as your baby goes through your birth canal, potentially, if you're not treated appropriately with antibiotics, your baby could develop a very severe infection that could cause them to be sick or even die.

The numbers are not high, but one baby that gets sick causes significant grief for that patient's family. So it's very, very important that if you have a group B strep individual that you treat them appropriately and labor. So one out of 2000 babies that goes through the birth canal if the moms out appropriately treated with penicillin. get pneumonia or meningitis super important identify whether you're positive or negative. So you can tell your nurse when you get to the hospital. Now, when you get to the hospital and your group B strep positive, if you're an active labor, they're going to start the antibiotic called penicillin immediately and you want that in your body so that that bacteria can be reduced to decrease your risk for infecting your baby.

One of the most important topics entire obstetrical calendar, you need to have a discussion with your healthcare provider to make sure that you know whether your group B strep positive or whether your group B strep negative. I hope that was helpful. Have a great day.