Group B Strep is the most common cause of serious infection in newborn babies in the UK, and one of the leading causes of neonatal sepsis and meningitis.
However, the UK doesn’t collect data on all cases of group B Strep infection, meaning families’ heartbreaking experiences aren’t counted. Previous research has suggested that as many as a fifth of group B Strep infections simply don’t get reported centrally.
We want this to change, and for the UK to commit to counting ALL group B Strep infections. We’re calling on the Government to make group B Strep a notifiable disease, which would put a legal responsibility on doctors to report these cases.
Adding GBS to the list of notifiable diseases would:
- Improve accuracy on the burden of GBS disease. Currently, data is voluntarily reported and significantly underestimates the rates of infection.
- Give the UK baseline data to inform and evaluate a future vaccination programme. No GBS vaccine is currently available, though multiple GBS vaccines are in development.
We’ve joined forces with other leading charities, including Bliss, The UK Sepsis Trust, Meningitis Research Foundation, Meningitis Now and The Lullaby Trust, to call on the government to make group B Strep a notifiable disease.
