Afraid of the truth
Stung by the reality that group B strep is indeed the primary cause of neonatal sepsis, Rixa at the True Face of Birth, is now trying to minimize its significance. In a post entitled Group B strep information she writes:* 15-40% of women are suspected to be colonized.My comment:
* 98-99% of babies born to colonized women will not become infected.
* Of those infected with early onset, 15% will die.
* Of those infected with late onset, 50% did not contract it from their mother but rather from other sources such as hospital personnel.
Taking "worse case scenario" (ie. assuming 40% of women are colonized, and 2% of those babies will become infected)--if we did not screen, did not give antibiotics, did nothing at all...
* .0225% (1 in 4444) babies would die of early onset GBS
In other words, group B strep is the leading cause of neonatal sepsis.Don't see my comment? That's because Rixa removed it. It is critically important for homebirth advocates to supress medical information that does not support their aims. Some of the best ways to supress the truth are to remove it, to deny it, or to minimize its significance. Rixa is attempting to do all three.
[If the rate of death from group B strep sepsis were 0.0225%] That would mean that 1000 babies would unnecessarily die preventable deaths each and every year.
So while puporting to provide medical information about group B strep sepsis, Rixa deliberately leaves out the most important information: group B strep is the major cause of neonatal sepsis. The actual incidence is 1.8/1000 live births (7200 cases per year) and more than 15% of affected infants will die (1080 deaths).
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