CDC offers new ‘Prevent Group B Strep’ app for smartphones

Group B Streptococcus (GBS), or Streptococcus agalactiae, remains the leading cause of early onset neonatal sepsis in the United States.

Image/CDC

Now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced a new application (app) for smartphones (iPhone and Android) that improves maternal and neonatal management of GBS disease prevention at the point-of-care.

According to the most recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), developed for obstetric and neonatal providers, the GBS prevention application features patient-specific and scenario-specific guidance consistent with the 2010 guidelines for the prevention of perinatal GBS disease. The application generates customized user guidance, such as when intrapartum antibiotics are indicated and which antibiotic regimens are appropriate for penicillin-allergic women, based on patient characteristics.

The app was developed in collaboration with and endorsed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), and American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). Intended users include those providing obstetric or neonatal care (e.g., obstetricians, neonatologists, nurse-midwives, family practitioners, neonatal nurses, etc.)

Extensive beta-testing of “Prevent Group B Strep” was performed. In addition to GBS subject matter experts at CDC, stakeholders from ACOG, AAP, ACNM, and AAFP informed the app development. Additional beta-testers, including several private obstetric providers as well as pediatric and obstetric providers in training, were involved in content development and design of the user interface.

The GBS app can be downloaded to iOS 4.0 and later or Android 2.1 and later.

GBS is responsible for illness in people of all ages, but it is a particularly serious pathogen for newborns in whom it can cause life-threatening sepsis, pneumonia and sometimes meningitis with a risk for long lasting effects, including deafness and developmental disabilities. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly 10% to 30% of pregnant women carry GBS that can be transmitted to the newborn at delivery. CDC guidelines recommend that all pregnant women should be tested for GBS infection between 35 and 37 weeks of pregnancy.

Although more rare, serious GBS infections can also occur in adults, leading to bloodstream infections, pneumonia, and other infections that can be fatal.

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