A retrospective assessment of protective GBS capsular polysaccharide levels in newborn Norwegian infants participating in the Norwegian Mother Child Cohort-Study
Project
|Published
Summary
About 1/3 of all women and men are carriers of Group B streptococci (GBS) in the urogenital tract. In connection with a vaginal birth, about half of the children of women who carry GBS will be colonized on the skin surface. However, there is also a small proportion of children who become ill with a serious GBS infection (sepsis, pneumonia, meningitis etc). These are very dreaded infections and newborns are therefore treated quite liberally with antibiotics to prevent GBS-disease. Unfortunately, the massive antibiotic treatment leads to unwanted effects on the intestinal flora and immune system of the newborn baby, and it can be troublesome for the baby. In addition, one will not always find the "right children" who need treatment. This means that some children can still become ill and die or suffer serious late injuries.
A new GBS vaccine is under development. To assess the effect of this vaccine, one also wants to look at the antibody level in the blood of newborn babies who have had GBS infection and compare it with children who have not had GBS infection. This is an important part of the evaluation of such a new vaccine. In this project, we will look at GBS antibody levels in the blood of mothers and newborns that were included in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), both cases with infections and healthy controls.
The project will contribute to GBS vaccine development. Introduction of such a vaccine may both protect newborns against GBS infections, but also help to reduce unnecessary antibiotic treatment.
Project number
PBD 2686
Start
21.06.2021
End
31.07.2023
Status
Active
Approvals
The Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REC): 2019/REC South East A