Download Group B Strep Support charity announces new appointment to their

12th March 2014: For immediate release
Group B Strep Support charity announces new appointment to their
Medical Advisory Panel
National charity Group B Strep Support is delighted to announce that Dr Guduru
Gopal Rao OBE, a Consultant Microbiologist at the North West London Hospitals NHS
Trust, has been appointed to their Medical Advisory Panel.
Dr Rao’s appointment complements the charity’s esteemed Medical Advisory Panel’s knowledge and
expertise; microbiology is more relevant today than ever as infectious diseases continue to be a
leading cause of serious illness and death. Dr Rao has been interested in the prevention of Group B
Streptococcus (or group B Strep or GBS) infections in babies for over 15 years and his innovative
approaches to reduce infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile have been widely adopted.
He is a member of a number of international and national professional groups including the
Department of Health’s MRSA Screening Committee and was, until recently, an international advisor
at The Royal College of Pathologists. For his efforts in combatting infectious diseases, Dr Rao was
awarded the OBE in June 2009.
Group B Streptococcus (group B Strep/ GBS) is the most common cause of life-threatening infection
in newborn babies in the UK, causing sepsis, meningitis and pneumonia, usually within the first week
of life. It is carried by around one in 4 women, usually without any symptoms, but it can be passed
from a mother to her baby around birth. When antibiotics are offered during labour to women who
are carrying GBS, 90% of these infections can be prevented.
At least 10 babies a week in the UK are infected by group B Strep and, even with the best medical
care, 10% of these sick babies will die1 and some survivors will suffer long-term problems, including
cerebral palsy, deafness and blindness. Yet, the UK neither offers antenatal testing for GBS, nor
informs pregnant women about the condition.
1
2003 Heath BPSU)
Furthermore, most health professionals do not have access to the ‘gold standard’ enriched culture
medium test recognised as optimal for detecting GBS carriage.
2
The charity Group B Strep Support campaigns for better awareness of this devastating infection
and wants to see every pregnant women between 35 and 37 weeks of their pregnancy given the
opportunity to be informed, tested, and if found to be GBS positive, offered antibiotics during labour
to minimise the risk of infection in the baby. Incidences of GBS infection in newborn babies in
countries that routinely offer antenatal tests for GBS have dramatically fallen –in the US by over
80%3 – whereas the UK has seen the incidence increase by 50% in the decade from 20004.
Commenting on the appointment, Professor Philip Steer, Chairman of the Group B
Strep Support’s Medical Advisory Panel, Emeritus Professor at Imperial College and
Consultant Obstetrician at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, says, “We
warmly welcome Dr Rao and the charity is delighted to have an expert so widely regarded; it is vital
that we have an expert microbiologist to advise us when we have enquiries from the general public,
in particular because sometimes the interpretation of test results needs microbiologist expertise. We
hope that we can use his experience in this initiative to great effect in advancing the goals of the
charity.”
Dr Rao’s appointment follows the resignation of Dr Christine McCartney OBE, Director of
Microbiology Services to Public Health England from the charity’s Medical Advisory Panel.
Professor Philip Steer says, “I would like to pay tribute to the contribution Christine has made
to the work of Group B Strep Support over almost a decade; she has provided authoritative and
helpful advice not just to me as Chairman of the Medical Advisory Panel but to many hundreds of
women concerned about the facts about GBS. It is a shame that as an employee of the newly
formed Public Health England, which is resolutely against screening, Christine chose to resign from
the role in order to avoid any prospective conflicts of interest. I very much regret that her role in
giving out factual information resulted in the need for Christine to resign, and we hope that in the
future she will once again be free to comment on scientific matters relating to GBS.”
2
Public Health England.(2012). Processing Swabs for Group B Streptococcal Carriage. UK Standards for Microbiology
Investigations. B58 Issue 2.2.
http://www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1317132860736
3
Jordan HT, Farley MM, Craig A, Mohle-Boetani J, Harrison LH, Petit S et al. Revisiting the need for vaccine prevention of lateonset neonatal group B streptococcal disease: a multistate, population-based analysis. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2008; 27(12):10571064.
4 Emerging Trends in the Epidemiology of Invasive Group B Streptococcal Disease in England and Wales,1991-2010. Lamagni
L et al. Clin Infect Dis. (2013) 57 (5):682-688.doi: 10.1093/cid/cit337 July 11,
2013.http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/57/5/682.full.pdf?keytype=ref&ijkey=ww95BI69E9sn44n
Other members of the Panel include neonatologist Dr Alison Bedford Russell (Clinical Director
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), West Midlands Strategic Clinical Network (SCN) Maternity
and Newborn Clinical Director, Birmingham Women's) and Mrs Philippa Cox (Consultant Midwife /
Supervisor of Midwives, CWSH Management Office, Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation
Trust, London).
For further information:
Jane Plumb, Chief Executive, Group B Strep Support for comment or greater detail
Tel:
01444 416176 e-mail:
[email protected]
For further press information:
Sarah Fiedosiuk, Media and Awareness, Group B Strep Suppo rt
Tel:
01444 416176
email:
[email protected]
Group B Strep Support, P O Box 203, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1GF www.gbss.org.uk. Registered Charity No 1112065.
Above – Dr Guduru Gopal OBE, consultant microbiologist at the North West London Hospitals NHS
Trust (jpg. Available from GBSS)
Notes to editors:
Group B Strep (GBS) carriage: Group B Strep is a normal bacterium carried by up to 30% of adults in the
intestines and approximately 25% of women in the vagina. It can be passed from mother to baby around
labour. This causes no problems for most babies: for some, it can be deadly, causing sepsis, pneumonia and
meningitis. Even with the best medical care, approximately one in every ten of these very sick babies will die
from their GBS infection and some of the survivors will suffer life-long disabilities.
GBS infection in newborn babies: Group B Strep is the UK’s most common cause of life threatening
infection in newborn babies. In England, Wales, the reported number of early-onset GBS infections has
increased by 50% (from 0.28 to 0.41 live births) between 2000 and 2010
http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/57/5/682.full.pdf?keytype=ref&ijkey=ww95BI69E9sn44n.
UK GBS guidelines : The Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists introduced guidelines to prevent
GBS infection in newborn babies in 2003, although these have had little discernable impact on the incidence of
these infections (see data series at
http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&Page&HPAwebAutoListDate/Page/1202487097746).
Risk factors GBS infection in babies: Newborn babies are at higher risk of developing group B Strep
infection when certain ‘risk factors’ are present during the pregnancy, labour and delivery. These are:


Mum carrying group B Strep during the current pregnancy,
Mum having a urinary tract infection caused by group B Strep during the current pregnancy,




a previous sibling having developed group B Strep infection,
Mum’s waters breaking more than 18 hours before delivery,
labour starting or waters breaking before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy and
Mum having a fever in labour.
However, known risk factors are only present in fewer than 60% of newborn babies who develop group B
Strep infection: determining whether a pregnant woman carries group B Strep late in pregnancy is a better
indicator of the baby’s risk.
GBS testing: A small but growing number of NHS trusts make sensitive testing for group B Strep carriage
available to pregnant women at the request of their health professionals, but most don’t. A number of private
medical laboratories offer at-home-testing packs for around £35. See http://www.gbss.org.uk/test for the
availability of sensitive testing following Public Health England’s UK Standard for GBS testing B 58 from NHS
trusts and private laboratories. Providing the test on the NHS would cost £11 per test. (Group B Strep
Support has no links and receives no money from any laboratory.)
A Report on preventable death and disability caused by group B Strep summarises the pros and cons of
different GBS prevention strategies for the UK – see http://www.gbss.org.uk/2013Report.
Group B Strep Support: UK charity Group B Strep Support provides information and support to families affected
by group B Strep and their health professionals. It is the UK’s only charity dedicated to the prevention of group B Strep
infection in newborn babies and provides comprehensive and reliable information, both printed and online. Group B
Strep Support is supported by an independent medical advisory panel http://tinyurl.com/GBSS-MAP
END