In June 2014 our beautiful nephew Edward Gili tragically died at just 9 days old after contracting a Group B Strep infection during birth. Since then our ‘sister in law’ and brother have been doing an amazing job tirelessly campaigning and raising awareness of Group B Strep and we want to give our support and show how proud we are of them both and
Edward Gili by running in the Kent Costal Half Marathon on 4^th Sept. This will be a challenge for Rachel in particular as, until 4 months ago, she had never run further than 5 or 6km and would flatly refuse to run any further because she ‘cannot run/is not a runner’! We will be running the course together in memory of Edward Gili and to help raise awareness of Group B Strep so that other parents and families do not have to go through the devastating loss of a baby.

Group B Strep (GBS) is the UK’s most common cause of life-threatening infection in new-born babies. Most of these infections can be easily prevented by routinely testing women during pregnancy and if necessary offering them antibiotics during labour.

On average in the UK, one new-born baby a day develops GBS, one baby a week dies from GBS and one baby a fortnight who survives the infection is left with life-long disability.

GBS is a normal bacterium that is carried by approximately a quarter of all women, without symptoms and usually unknowingly. It can be passed from mother to baby around birth with potentially devastating consequences for the baby. Most early-onset GBS infections (those occurring in the first 6 days of life) are potentially preventable by giving antibiotics intravenously in labour to mothers whose newborn babies are at raised risk of developing group B Strep infection. Unlike many other countries (e.g. Germany and Spain), the UK does not routinely offer the GBS sensitive (ECM) test to pregnant women, the results of which could then be used to inform what further treatment may be required, if any, to minimise the risk of GBS infection in new born babies. If these tests were routinely in place for all pregnant mothers then Edward could be with us today.

Please help Group B Strep Support to raise awareness and ensure every pregnant mother is routinely provided information on group B Strep as part of her antenatal care, and offered the opportunity to have a sensitive test for GBS carriage late in pregnancy.

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