Hospital-based policies for prevention perinatal Group B streptococcal disease--United States, 1999.

Group B streptococcus (GBS) is the leading cause of sepsis, meningitis, and pneumonia in newborns in the United States (1). Because intrapartum prophylactic antibiotics reduce mother-to-child GBS transmission (2), in 1996, CDC, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that hospitals adopt formal GBS prevention policies (2-4). From 1994 to 1997, the proportion of hospitals with formal intrapartum GBS prevention policies increased from 39% to 59% (5,6); hospitals that implemented policies reported less GBS disease among neonates (7). In 1999, CDC's Active Bacterial Core Surveillance (ABCs) system surveyed hospitals in eight states about their GBS prevention policies. This report summarizes the results of that analysis and indicates that in 1999, the proportion of hospitals with formal policies had not changed since 1997; however, a higher proportion of hospitals have implemented measures to improve policy compliance.