Hundreds of British babies die or are left with ‘lifelong disabilities’ every year after not being given ‘simple’ test

HUNDREDS of babies in the UK are left dying or with lifelong disabilities every year as mums-to-be are not offered simple test.

Around 800 babies a year will develop Group B Strep (GBS) infection – which works out to around two babies a day.

A mum can pass the deadly bacteria to her newborn during labour

Each week, around one baby will die of the infection and two will be left with a lifelong disability.

“It’s a heart-breaking start to life for families and that often the first they hear of Group B Strep is when their baby is sick or in intensive care”, Oliver Plumb, from the charity Group B Strep Support, told the BBC.

The UK does not currently routinely test mums-to-be for Group B Strep.

This means only certain hospitals offer the potentially life-saving screening.

The test involves taking a swab sample from the mum-to-be’s vagina and rectum, where the bacteria usually lies, a few weeks before birth date.

Group B strep is found in around one in five women but typically causes no harm to the mum-to-be, NHS guidance states.

The danger is when giving birth; a mum can pass the deadly bacteria to her newborn during labour without knowing.

The bug can cause sepsis, pneumonia or meningitis in the child, all of which can kill.

In the vast majority of cases, babies will be unaffected.

‘POSTCODE LOTTERY’

But both Natalie Lockyer and Becca Murcott’s babies were seriously ill after catching the bug.

Natalie’s daughter Quinn died aged ten weeks after developing GBS at five weeks old.

After falling ill just five weeks after her birth, Quinn was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

The mum told the BBC that medics from around the world who were at the hospital were shocked that GBS screening was not a routine procedure in the UK, as it was in other countries.

“If they do it, why don’t we? It’s so simple,” she asked.

Becca’s son Albie was born on Boxing Day 2023 and had Group B Strep Meningitis, which has caused a brain injury.

He became ill at home and was admitted to the hospital, where his condition stabilised.

Her husband, Rob, told the BBC: “We could have been tested and prepared for it, and Albie could have been saved from it.”

Becca said testing should be carried out in labour or shortly before.

Oliver, from the charity, explained there was a “postcode lottery” regarding how many families would hear about GBS.

“In the UK we don’t sadly have a routine testing programme, that’s at odds with much of the rest of the high-income world. “

Several reasons for not recommending routine screening have been given by the committee, including that results can change in the last few weeks of labour and that GBS does not cause infection in every baby.

The decision is due to be reviewed following an ongoing screening trial.

The charity has called for GBS to be a notifiable disease to make it a legal responsibility for all infections to be reported, so that outbreaks can be tracked.

It said that current figures could be missing around one fifth of the infections.