Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the most common infections caused to new-born babies by group B streptococus.

If a baby develops group B streptococcus infection (GBS) infection less than seven days after birth, it is known as early-onset GBS infection. Most babies who become infected develop symptoms within 12 hours of birth.

Symptoms include:

- being floppy and unresponsive;

- not feeding well;

- grunting;

- high or low temperature;

- fast or slow heart rates;

- fast or slow breathing rates; and

- irritability.

Most babies who become infected can be treated successfully and will make a full recovery. However, even with the best medical care the infection can sometimes cause life-threatening complications, such as:

- blood poisoning (septicaemia);

- infection of the lung (pneumonia); and

- infection of the lining of the brain (meningitis).

Early-onset GBS infection can cause problems such as cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness, and serious learning difficulties.

Late-onset GBS infection develops seven or more days after a baby is born. Most commonly the baby presents with sepsis. It is not usually associated with pregnancy. The baby is most likely to have become infected after the birth, for example, they may have caught the infection from someone else. GBS infections after three months of age are extremely rare.