Epidemiology of neonatal group B streptococcal disease in the Netherlands before and after introduction of guidelines for prevention

Objectives: (1) To describe the epidemiology of neonatal group B streptococcal (GBS) disease over five years (1997–2001) in the Netherlands, stratified for proven and probable sepsis and for very early (<12 h), late early (12 h – <7 days) and late (7–90 days) onset sepsis. (2) To evaluate the effect of the introduction in January 1999 of guidelines for prevention of early onset GBS disease based on risk factors. Methods: Data on cases were collected in collaboration with the Dutch Paediatric Surveillance Unit and corrected for under-reporting by the capture-recapture technique. Results:... Mehr ...