Such babies almost always have severe pneumonia causing very marked respiratory distress which is complicated by the serious blood infection which causes shock . Symptoms are often present at birth or develop within the first hours of life. If the baby catches the bacteria from the birth canal during labor or delivery, the symptoms may not develop until a few days after birth and may present as pneumonia, blood stream infection, or meningitis, or a combination of illnesses. Late onset GBS disease occurs between 8 days and 3 months of age. It may consist of blood stream infection by itself, meningitis, pneumonia, or joint infection.
Symptoms depend on which organ of the body is infected.
Treatment of all GBS infections are with antibiotics given by vein, usually for at least two weeks. Rarely, GBS infection later in life in persons who have never developed immunity prior to becoming infected for the first time. In spite of much research, no vaccine is yet available to prevent GBS disease in newborns. Antibiotics can be given to women during labor if they are considered to be at high risk and to their babies after birth to reduce the risk of early onset GBS disease. Such treatment does not reduce the risk of late onset disease.