For New Jersey woman, rare occurrence was all too real
By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay News) -- Renee Walsh became pregnant with her second child in late 2005. At her very first prenatal visit, she underwent screening for group B streptococcus.
"They found group B strep in my urine, in a very low concentration," said Walsh, 36, of Oakhurst , N.J. It was so early in her pregnancy that no one was too concerned. She would be retested closer to delivery to determine whether antibiotics would be needed during labor to counter the group B strep.
At 36 weeks, doctors performed the follow-up screening. A swab culture revealed that Walsh did, indeed, have a group B strep infection and would need the antibiotics.
"I went online and the statistics said there was a less than 1 percent chance" of harm to the baby, she said. "I was scared at that point, but I tried not to worry. The stats are in your favor."
She went to her 38-week checkup full of confidence. She and her husband brought their 2-year-old daughter along so the girl could hear her future sibling's heartbeat. "We were trying to get her ready to be a big sister," Walsh said.
But the heartbeat wasn't there. "An ultrasound couldn't detect a heartbeat, either," Walsh said. Her unborn child was dead.
"I remember the room spinning," Walsh said. "We had made all these plans. We had just moved to a new house for the baby. I had walked three miles just that day. My first pregnancy was very smooth. I wasn't anticipating anything like that."
An autopsy on the baby, who they named James Patrick Walsh Jr., found group B strep in the infant's blood and lungs. The bacteria had apparently crossed intact membranes to infect the child, a very rare occurrence.
Walsh did end up having another child, in October 2008.
She tested positive for group B strep in this pregnancy as well, but this time she was put on a five-day course of oral antibiotics early in the pregnancy, and urine cultures were taken every eight weeks. She also took probiotics to boost the amount of healthy bacteria in her system. The group B strep went away and never came back, she said.
She named her son William James Walsh -- "William" for the doctor who kept him safe and "James" for the brother he will never know.
Walsh said she warns expectant mothers to be wary of group B strep and to take it seriously from the start.
"A lot of people still believe it's only threatening during labor," she said. "They don't understand it can cross intact membranes."
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