[B streptococcal infections in the neonatal period and infancy].

From January 1975 to March 1985 37 newborns and infants with B streptococcal infections were treated in the Pediatric Hospital of the Karl Marx University in Leipzig. The percentage of B streptococcal infections of all neonatal bacterial infections rose in this time from 6.9% to 15.7%. There were 23 early onset type infections and 14 late infections; 12 of the 37 infants died. Septicemia and meningitis were the most important clinical features. The time of beginning of the clinical symptoms in the postnatal period and the results of serotyping suggest a connatal infection in most cases.