Volume 13, Number 2—February 2007
Research
Invasive Group B Streptococcal Infection in Infants, Malawi
Katherine J. Gray*
, Sally L. Bennett†, Neil French*, Amos J. Phiri*, and Stephen M. Graham*†
, Sally L. Bennett†, Neil French*, Amos J. Phiri*, and Stephen M. Graham*†Table
Characteristics of 57 case-patients with group B streptococcal infection overall and in relation to capsular serotype
| Serotype | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical features | Total (%) | Ia (n = 12) | Ib (n = 3) | Ll (n = 4) | Lll (n = 32) | V (n = 1) | Unknown (n = 5) |
| Early onset disease* | 29 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 2 |
| Male sex† | 15 (52)‡ | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Meningitis | 5 (17) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Probable meningitis | 4 (14) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Sepsis | 15 (52) | 5 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Pneumonia | 0 (0) | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Undefined | 5 (17) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Low birthweight§¶ | 5 (17) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Premature#** | 3 (10) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Late onset disease†† | 28 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 0 | 3 |
| Male sex‡‡ | 13 (46) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Meningitis | 11 (39) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 |
| Probable meningitis | 1 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Sepsis | 10 (36) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Pneumonia | 3 (11) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Undefined | 3 (11) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Low birthweight§§ | 5 (18) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Premature¶¶ | 4 (14) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Case fatality‡ | |||||||
| Early onset disease | 11 (38) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Late onset disease | 8 (29) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Unknown | 3 (5) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sensitivity, % | |||||||
| Penicillin | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Erythromycin | 79 | 90 | 100 | 67 | 78 | 0 | 78 |
| Tetracycline | 4 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Ceftriaxone | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Chloramphenicol | 81 | 90 | 100 | 100 | 78 | 0 | 77 |
*Illness onset between birth and day 6.
†Missing information on 3 cases.
‡Expressed as a proportion of total early or late onset cases.
§Weight at birth <2.5 kg.
¶Missing information on 2 cases.
#Delivery before 37 weeks of gestation.
**Missing information on 6 cases.
††Illness onset ≥7 d after delivery.
‡‡Missing information on 2 cases.
§§Missing information on 4 cases.
¶¶Missing information on 6 cases.
