Group B streptococcal infection

Group B streptococcus infection is the infection caused by the bacterium Streptococcus agalactiae (S. agalactiae) (also known as group B streptococcus or GBS). Group B streptococcal infection can cause serious illness and sometimes death, especially in newborns, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems. GBS was recognized as a pathogen in cattle by Edmond Nocard and Mollereau in the late 1880s, but its significance as a human pathogen was not discovered before 1938, when Fry described three fatal cases of puerperal infections caused by GBS. In the early 1960s, GBS was recognized as a main cause of neonatal infections.