South Africa is taking the lead in the development of a maternal vaccine against group B Streptococcus (GBS), which can kill newborns and cause maternal complications.
After being passed to newborns during labour and delivery, GBS can cause serious invasive infections, including meningitis, bacterial pneumonia, and sepsis.
Although the bacteria was once thought to mostly affect wealthier nations, researchers said its impact is seen mostly in low- and middle-income countries – mainly in Africa and east and southeast Asia. "We have been studying GBS for the past 15 years, including its epidemiology and understanding what immune responses vaccines should induce to protect the babies against GBS by vaccinating their mothers during pregnancy.
“About one-third of women will be colonised during pregnancy, but only a minority of their babies go on to develop invasive GBS disease," said the researchers.
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