Raising awareness of a potentially fatal condition
Tania Holmes will set up information points in Worthing town centre on Wednesday, July 15, and Sunday, July 19, to spread the word about Group B Strep.
Tania, who is mum to one-year-old Bailey, lost her first son Blake to the condition in 2009 after doctors failed to recognise she had the easily-preventable bacterial infection.
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Hide AdShe said: “The Group B Strep Support charity holds an awareness month every July, and I thought it would be a good idea to do something to help. I’m just hoping to let people know what the condition is, and the need to get a swab test for the condition during pregnancy made routine.”
Group B Streptococcus is the UK’s most common cause of life-threatening infection in newborn babies and of meningitis in babies up to the age of three months. It is a normally-occurring bacterium which is found in many men and women. For most, it is harmless, but if it is passed from mother to baby, it can cause long-term health problems or even be fatal.
A swab can be carried out late during a woman’s pregnancy to find out if she is a carrier. If she is, it would not necessarily mean she would pass the infection to her baby, but she would be given antibiotics at the onset of labour as a preventative measure.
Tania will be by the bandstand on July 15 from 8.30am to 4pm and in South Street Square on July 19 from 10am to 4pm. To sign a petition to make the swab test routine, see www.gbss.org.uk
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