This document discusses Group B Streptococcus (GBS) infection in newborns. Women are more at risk of GBS if they have previously had it during pregnancy, have a urinary tract infection during pregnancy, experience early labor, have prolonged rupture of membranes, or develop a fever during labor. Taking antibiotics during labor can help prevent the baby from contracting GBS during birth. Left untreated, GBS infection in infants can cause issues like breathing problems, seizures, or feeding difficulties. Doctors can diagnose GBS in infants through tests of fluids like blood and spinal fluid.

1. GBS
EASTZONE MEDICO LEGAL SERVICES
PVT.LTD

2. www.eastzonemedico.com
• Women are more prone to GBS if they:
• Previously had GBS during pregnancy
• Have (or had) a urinary tract infection during
pregnancy
• Experience labor before 37 weeks of
pregnancy
• Have a baby more than 18 hours after their
water breaks
• Develop a high fever during labor

3. • If you are found with GBS when you’re tested
at the recommended time in your pregnancy,
your doctor should prescribe pregnancy-
friendly antibiotics. It’s possible that during
delivery, your child can get GBS when passing
through the birth canal and coming into
contact with the virus. By taking antibiotics,
the virus can be attacked before your
baby passes through the birth canal

4. What Are the Dangers of GBS to Infants?

5. What Are the Dangers of GBS to Mothers?

6. What Are the Symptoms of a Group B Strep Infection?
• It’s important to keep an eye out for a group B strep
infection in infant so that you can get treatment for
them as quickly as possible. These symptoms usually
develop anywhere within the first 24 hours of life to the
first week of life, and may include: fever, breathing
problems, grunting sounds, bluish skin, seizures, limpness,
stiffness, heart rate and blood pressure abnormalities,
poor feeding, and fussiness.
• Doctors can easily diagnose GBS in infants, sometimes
with a chest X-ray and sometimes lab studies that require
samples of various different fluids such as blood, urine,
and cerebrospinal fluid. Infants with GBS may be
prescribed with antibiotics to fight the infection

7. What is an Epidural?
• An epidural, also known as epidural anesthesia, is
a regional anesthesia administered intravenously
to block pain in the lower part of the body. A long
needle is typically inserted into your back, around
the spinal cord area, usually after the cervix has
dilated to at least 4 centimeters. A thin catheter is
threaded through the needle, which ensures that
the medication hits the epidural area and the
catheter stays in place. Once the catheter is in
place, medication will fluidly disperse either
intermittently or continuously.

10. Infant risks include:

14. Symptoms of Hydrocephalus

15. • Shunt surgery is the most common form of
hydrocephalus treatment. Doctors generally insert
catheters called shunts into the cerebral ventricles.
The shunts allow CSF to flow normally in the central
nervous system and prevent further accumulation of
the liquid in the ventricles. The excess fluid flows into
other spaces in the body and then reabsorbed.
• This form of treatment usually works well, but it can
cause complications if problems occur with the
shunts. The two main problems associated with
surgically-implanted shunts are:
• Shunt failures
• Shunt infections

16. What is Cystic Fibrosis?
• Sometimes a life-threatening disease, cystic fibrosis is
an inherited disorder marked by abnormal glands that
produce thicker and more abnormal mucus and sweat.
In some cases, the build-up of mucus often resides in
the lungs, the digestive tracts, and other areas of the
body.
• It’s the cystic fibrosis in the lungs that interferes with
respiration and sometimes causes life-threatening
problems. When an infant has cystic fibrosis, the
mucus builds up in the lungs, the pancreas, and the
liver, which not only complicate the function of those
organs but likewise make the infant prone to infections
in those areas.

17. What is the Cause of Cystic Fibrosis?
• Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease and can only because via
a parent passing down gene changes to the infant.
• There is no way to stop cystic fibrosis, aside from
diagnosing a parent with the disorder and informing them
that it can be passed down. However, there are several
instances in which cystic fibrosis may be considered a birth
injury, including:
• Physicians fail to screen the infant for cystic fibrosis, and
therefore fail to provide medical treatment
• A woman receives eggs, sperm, or an embryo that was not
screened for cystic fibrosis (wrongful pregnancy)
• Misread or improperly performed genetic testing prior to
pregnancy

19. How Do You Treat Cystic Fibrosis?

20. What is Infant Dystonia Disorder?
• Dystonia disorder is a disorder that appears
to affect the muscles. Dystonia disorder
appears to affect the muscles because it
causes writhing, slow, involuntary
movements or postures taken by the
muscles. In fact, the disorder is caused due to
miscommunication between the brain and
the nerves, making it a neurological disorder
instead of a muscular disorder.

21. How is Infant Dystonia Disorder Caused in Newborns?

22. • Cerebral palsy is similar to dystonia as it can be
caused from hypoxia or neonatal brain
hemorrhage. The symptoms of the two
disorders are also similar as they involve slow,
writhing movements, paralysis, and abnormal or
repetitious muscle movement.
• Cerebral palsy, however, is a disability that starts
in the brain and affects the whole body’s
movement, and in some cases, causes cognitive
disabilities. Generally patients with dystonia
disorder have a muscular disorcer, but rarely are
cognitive disabilities associated with it

23. How is Infant Dystonia Diagnosed?

24. • HIE is a brain dysfunction caused by a reduction
in the supply of oxygen to the brain and other
organs (hypoxia), compounded by low blood
flow to vital organs (ischemia). Encephalopathy
refers to any condition that results from reduced
blood and oxygen supply to the brain.
• Since this is considered a brain injury, the time
of the oxygen deprivation generally relates to
the perinatal period, just before and just after
delivery.
• HIE caused by asphyxia is the leading cause of
infant fatalities in the United States, as well as
the primary source of severe impairments.

25. What Are the Symptoms of HIE?
• symptoms associated with HIE,
including:
• Meconium-stained amniotic fluid
• Low heart rate
• Poor muscle tone
• Weak breathing or no breathing at all
• Bluish or pale skin color
• Excessive acid in the blood

26. What Causes HIE?
• HIE during pregnancy in the antepartum period.
These include:
• Maternal diabetes with vascular disease
• Problems with blood circulation to the placenta
• Preeclampsia
• Cardiac disease
• Congenital infections of the fetus
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Severe fetal anemia
• Lung malformations

27. What is the Difference Between a Birth Defect and a Birth
Injury?
• . A birth defect is health problem that a child
was genetically predisposed with. A birth injury
is a health condition that happens as a result of
medical malpractice to a child that was going to
be born normally with no health problems.
• Birth defects can at times be considered a birth
injury if medical negligence caused the defects.
For example, several medications have been
linked to an increased risk of birth defects. If a
physician and/or manufacturer fails to inform
the mother of the risks of birth defects when
taking the medication while pregnant, they may
be liable for damages.

28. Can PPHN Be Prevented?
• Doctors now believe that a child has an
increased risk in PPH if the mother increases
the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
(SSRIs) during the last trimester of pregnancy.
Sometimes an indication of SSRIs could be
maternal depression

29. What are the Symptoms of PPHN?
• The symptoms of PPHN may differ according to
each infant. While one baby may exhibit all of
the typical symptoms, another may only exhibit
a few. The most common symptoms associated
with PPHN include:
• Blue-tint to the skin
• The infant may appear ill shortly after birth
• Rapid heartbeat and rapid breathing
• Oxygen levels that stay low after the infant
receives 100% oxygen

30. How Can PPHN Be Treated
• , PPHN still results in poor blood oxygen levels.
• Methods of treatment may include include:
• Continuous monitoring of oxygenation and
blood pressure
• Maintaining a normal blood pressure
• Correction of glucose and electrolyte
abnormalities
• Nutritional support
• Minimal handling of the newborn, and
• Minimal use of invasive procedures.