Clinical study of group B streptococcal infection in children

Abstract

We evaluated 12 children infected with group B Streptococcus (GBS) at Asahikawa Kosei Hospital, in Japan between 1998 and 2007. The diagnosis was bacteremia in 8 and meningitis in 4. Infection occurred before day 7 in 3 patients, between days 7 and 28 in 4, and between days 29 and 131 in 5. The incidence of early onset GBS infection was 0.4 cases/1,000 live births. Four of 11 mothers were found to have GBS in antenatal culture screening. Although 2 underwent intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis, infants suffered GBS infection. No patients with GBS infection died, but sequelae seen in 3 patients involved epilepsy and developmental delay of varying severity. The most frequent serotypes were III in 7 patients, followed by Ia in 2, Ib in 2, and II in 1. The MIC90 was 0.015 microg/mL in panipenem and imipenem, 0.03 microg/mL in meropenem, 0.06 microg /mL in cefotaxime and ceftriaxone, and 0.12 microg/mL in ampicillin. Serotypes and MICs were measured in 28 strains from pregnant women, 11 from newborns, 19 from children, and 30 from adults between May 2007 and December 2008. The frequency of serotype III in patients with GBS infection was significantly more than that in pregnant women or adults (p < 0.05). The MIC90 in these strains was the same as those of patients with GBS infection.