Abstract
Author(s): MARIA PROÅNIEWSKA, JAROSÅAW KALINKA
Introduction. Since the 1970s, Streptococcus agalactiae has been considered to be the domi-nating etiological factor of neonatal and pediatric infections and of puerperal complications. â-haemolytic group B Streptococcus (GBS) constitutes a part of the microflora of the gastro-intestinal tract, from where it may colonize, usually asymptomatically, the urinary and genitaltracts. According to the epidemiological data, it is estimated that ca. 10-30% of healthy womenare colonized by S. agalactiae. It is estimated that every fifth pregnant woman in Poland isa carrier of S. agalactiae, and since its mode of colonization is mostly asymptomatic and re-current, prenatal carrier state control and prevention of neonatal infections is an important issuein modern obstetrics.Aim of the study. An analysis of demographic, environmental and microbiological factors inassociation with S. agalactiae carriage in pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy.Material and methods. The study group consisted of 377 pregnant women in the third trime-ster of pregnancy, hospitalized at the Clinic of Perinatology of the 1st Faculty of Gynaecologyand Obstetrics of the Medical University in £ódŸ (Poland) in 2010-2012. The collected materialwas subjected to microbiological evaluation at the Department of Medical Microbiology andthe Department of Medical and Sanitary Microbiology in £ódŸ. S. agalactiae was grown onStrep B Select chromogenic selective agar, and for the purpose of â-haemolysis control theagar medium was enriched with 5% defibrinated sheep blood. After bacterial growth had beenobtained, it was initially identified by the morphological features of the colony, which wasfollowed by an application of commercial API Strep biochemical tests. The affiliation of theisolated streptococci to the serological group B was confirmed with Pastorex Strep B latexagglutination test.Conclusions. Age, BMI and education of the pregnant women were not risk factors of Strep-tococcus agalactiae colonization in the study group. The presence of Candida sp. in a pre-gnant woman’s genital tract may significantly increase the risk of GBS carriage. The rate ofEscherichia coli isolated from throat swabs of newborns was significantly higher in those bornfrom mothers with a positive GBS carrier state.