Antibodies to capsular polysaccharides of group B Streptococcus in pregnant Canadian women: relationship to colonization status and infection in the neonate.
Departments of Microbiology and Infectious Disease, Pediatrics, and Community Health Sciences and Child Health Research Unit, Alberta Children's Hospital, University of Calgary, Calgary,T2T-5C7, Canada. dele.davies@crha-health.ab.ca
In a cohort study of 1207 pregnant women in Alberta, Canada, the serotype distributions of vaginal-rectal group B Streptococcus (GBS) isolates were compared with all isolates from neonates with invasive GBS disease identified by population-based surveillance. Serum concentrations of Ia, Ib, II, III, and V capsular polysaccharide (CPS)-specific IgG also were determined, according to serotype of the vaginal-rectal colonizing GBS strain. GBS colonization was detected in 19.5% (235 of 1207) of women. Serotype III accounted for 20.6% (48 of 233) of colonizing strains available for typing but for 37% (27 of 73) of invasive isolates from neonates (P