But the test is known to be unreliable. You can test -ve and actually be +ve and vice versa.

Those figures were good Ryn thanks. That means that the mortality is, overall, about 1.3 per 100000 live births. Which is about the same as the neonatal mortality from uterine rupture during VBAC. And clearly studies have shown despite this the risks of a section outweight those of a rupture. Do you mean, with your 1 in 1000 that 0.1% of babies have lasting damage, or have active infection. I know around 70% of babies born to Strep B +ve mums culture +ve at birth, but of those only around 1-2% become ill.

I suppose for me it's about managing risk factors. I wouldn't test for it because if you test -ve you STILL get the IV antibiotics if you have ROM >18 hours before birth or have a fever during labour, and if you test +ve you cannot have a home birth, have to have IV antibiotics no matter what and have bubs taken away for observation right after birth in some hospitals, even if they seem fine. And on top of all of that you can be +ve and test -ve and vice versa. I just don't see the point in a test which is diagnostically unreliable when it can so dramatically change how your baby "has" to be birthed. In addition, StrepB was cited to my friend many times as a reason she shouldn't seek VBAC, and she is now convinced her body is infected and dirty and her vagina isn't fit for a baby to travel down it. I imagine that would happen to many women seeking VBAC with either historical or current GBS +ve test results.

What is the mortality rate in the US or in AUS where testing is routine? There are going to be many many women who are StrepB +ve whose babies are -ve or +ve but have no difficulties and women who test StrepB-ve who are actually +ve at the time of birth and whose babies will get ill. Birth is a risky business.

I can't help feeling, given the nature of the infection, that it'd be more useful to dramatically reduce the use of ARM in inductions and VE's to a bare minimum (i.e. none) than to test everyone with a dodgy test.

Bx