Group B Streptococcus

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2021) | Viewed by 3332

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
Interests: protein structure and function; imaging

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Guest Editor
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
Interests: placental immune system; infection in pregnancy; neonatal immunology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Streptococcus agalactiae or Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a Gram-positive, encapsulated bacterial pathogen that commonly colonizes the gastrointestinal and urogenital tract. Up to half of surveyed patients exhibit GBS colonization during pregnancy in some populations. GBS colonization is a strong risk factor for adverse outcomes during pregnancy such as chorioamnionitis, preterm premature rupture of gestational membranes, preterm birth, maternal sepsis, neonatal sepsis, and death. This Special Issue will seek to determine the environmental factors as well as bacterial and immunological mechanisms associated with GBS pathogenesis which ultimately influence disease outcomes.

Dr. Jennifer Angeline Gaddy
Dr. Kristen Noble
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Group B Streptococcus
  • preterm birth
  • pregnancy
  • premature rupture of membranes
  • chorioamnionitis
  • immunology
  • maternal–fetal interface
  • infectious disease
  • placenta
  • vagina
  • reproductive health

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 1906 KiB  
Article
Complicated Streptococcus agalactiae Sepsis with/without Meningitis in Young Infants and Newborns: The Clinical and Molecular Characteristics and Outcomes
by Chih Lin, Shih-Ming Chu, Hsiao-Chin Wang, Peng-Hong Yang, Hsuan-Rong Huang, Ming-Chou Chiang, Ren-Huei Fu, Ming-Horng Tsai and Jen-Fu Hsu
Microorganisms 2021, 9(10), 2094; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9102094 - 3 Oct 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2740
Abstract
Background: Streptococcus agalactiae (also known as group B streptococcus, GBS) is associated with high mortality and morbidity rates in infants, especially those with complicated GBS sepsis, defined as those with meningitis, severe sepsis and/or septic shock. We aimed to characterize the clinical and [...] Read more.
Background: Streptococcus agalactiae (also known as group B streptococcus, GBS) is associated with high mortality and morbidity rates in infants, especially those with complicated GBS sepsis, defined as those with meningitis, severe sepsis and/or septic shock. We aimed to characterize the clinical and molecular characteristics and risk factors for adverse outcomes of neonates with invasive GBS diseases. Methods: From 2003 to 2020, all neonates with invasive GBS diseases who were hospitalized in a tertiary-level neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were enrolled. The GBS isolates underwent serotyping, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and antibiotic susceptibility testing. We compared cases of complicated GBS sepsis with uncomplicated GBS bacteremia. Results: During the study period, a total of 188 neonates (aged less than 6 months old) with invasive GBS diseases were identified and enrolled. Among them, 119 (63.3%) had uncomplicated GBS bacteremia and 69 (36.7%) neonates had complicated GBS sepsis, including meningitis (25.5%, n = 48) and severe sepsis or septic shock. Among neonates with complicated GBS sepsis, 45 (65.2%) had neurological complications, and 21 (42.0%) of 50 survivors had neurological sequelae at discharge. The overall final mortality rate was 10.1% (19 neonates died). Type III/ST-17 GBS isolates accounted for 56.5% of all complicated GBS sepsis and 68.8% of all GBS meningitis, but this strain was not significantly associated with worse outcomes. The antimicrobial resistance rate among the invasive GBS isolates was obviously increasing in the past two decades. After multivariate logistic regression analysis, neonates with thrombocytopenia and respiratory failure were independently associated with final adverse outcomes. Conclusions: a total of 36.7% of all neonatal invasive GBS diseases were associated with complicated sepsis with/without meningitis. Given the high mortality and morbidity rates in neonates with complicated GBS sepsis, further studies for early identification of specific strains, risk factors or genetic mechanisms that will cause complicated GBS sepsis are urgently needed in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Group B Streptococcus)
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