Background: 21 million pregnant women worldwide (18%) are estimated to carry Group B Streptococcus (GBS), which is a risk for invasive disease in newborns, pregnant women, and stillbirths. Adults ≥ 60 years or with underlying health conditions are also vulnerable to invasive GBS disease. We undertook systematic reviews on GBS organism characteristics including: capsular polysaccharide (serotype), sequence type (multi-locus sequence types (MLST)), and virulence proteins. We synthesised data by at-risk populations, to inform vaccine development.

Author List: Bianchi-Jassir F, Paul P, To KN, Carreras-Abad C, Seale AC, Jauneikaite E, Madhi SA, Russell NJ, Hall J, Madrid L, Bassat Q, Kwatra G, Le Doare K, Lawn JE.

Journal Name: Vaccine. 2020 Oct 7;38(43):6682-6694. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.08.052. Epub 2020 Sep 2. PMID: 32888741; PMCID: PMC7526974.