Group B Streptococcal Infections in Infants

Abstract

Group B streptococci produce two types of illness in infants, according to age at onset. Serotyping of isolates collected during a 3 1/2-year period was performed to define the relationship between type of illness caused by group B streptococci and specific serotype. Type III isolates were significantly increased among infants with meningitis of either the "early-" (80%) or "late-" (93%) onset types when compared to asymptomatically colonized neonates (36%) and neonates with early-onset septicemia without meningitis (33%). These findings suggest that type III strains may possess invasive properties that allow meningeal penetration, that there are epidemiologic peculiarities in the acquisition of late-onset infections, or both. (JAMA230:1158-1160, 1974)