Group B Streptococcal Infections in Infants
The Importance of the Various Serotypes
- Carol J. Baker, MD;
- Fred F. Barrett, MD
Abstract
Group B streptococci produce two types of illness in infants, according to age at onset. Serotyping of isolates collected during a 3 1/2-year period was performed to define the relationship between type of illness caused by group B streptococci and specific serotype. Type III isolates were significantly increased among infants with meningitis of either the "early-" (80%) or "late-" (93%) onset types when compared to asymptomatically colonized neonates (36%) and neonates with early-onset septicemia without meningitis (33%). These findings suggest that type III strains may possess invasive properties that allow meningeal penetration, that there are epidemiologic peculiarities in the acquisition of late-onset infections, or both.
(JAMA 230:1158-1160, 1974)
Footnotes
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Read in part before the Southern Society for Pediatric Research, New Orleans, Jan 26, 1974.
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Reprint requests to Baylor College of Medicine, 1200 Moursund Ave, Houston, TX 77025 (Dr. Barrett).
