PREGNANT WOMEN CAN TEST FOR LEADING CAUSE OF LIFE-THREATENING INFECTION IN NEWBORN BABIES

National charity Group B Strep Support is delighted to announce a partnership with healthcare company HiberGene Diagnostics to help pregnant women to test for group B Strep – the most common cause of life-threatening infection in newborn babies.

One in four pregnant women is unknowingly carrying group B Strep bacteria, which causes meningitis, sepsis or pneumonia in more than 500 newborn babies a year.

On average, one newborn baby a week dies from group B Strep infection.

Testing for Group B Streptococcus (group B Strep or GBS) is not routinely available through the NHS, unlike countries such as the USA, France, Germany, Poland and many others.

HiberGene Diagnostics’ test for GBS is called Strepelle and uses the international ‘gold standard’ ECM method for detecting group B Strep carriage, recognised in Public Health England’s UK Standard.  

“We are delighted to be working with HiberGene Diagnostics who are supporting our helplines and information services for new and expectant parents” says Jane Plumb MBE, Chief Executive of Group B Strep Support. “Pregnant women are rarely offered testing in the NHS, and if they are, a ‘gold-standard’ test like Strepelle is seldom available.  With their help, and their test, we are confident that more babies will be protected from preventable group B Strep infection.”

Brendan Farrell, Chairman and CEO of HiberGene Diagnostics agrees, “Commercial tests like Strepelle enable women to find out whether they carry group B Strep in pregnancy so they can make informed choices about what is best for them and their baby.  Identifying pregnant women likely to be carrying group B Strep and giving them IV penicillin during labour can reduce group B Strep infection in newborn babies by over 80%”.

Strepelle costs £39.99 and is available from selected independent pharmacies and online from www.strepelle.com.

Strepelle is an easy to use home-to-laboratory test recommended from 35 weeks gestation. Once the laboratory has received the completed test, the results are sent via text within three working days and, for positive results, a hard-copy of the results is also sent.

Northern Irish women have only half the recommended iodine levels at critical stage of pregnancy

Pregnant Northern Irish women do not get enough iodine through their diet and do not know enough about how to address their deficiency, according to preliminary research presented today at the Society for Endocrinology annual conference in Brighton. The researchers call for better public health initiatives to advise women on optimising their iodine intake in pregnancy.

Iodine is an essential nutrient needed to make thyroid hormones, which control the body’s metabolism and growth. In the UK, dairy products are the primary source of iodine, but egg yolks and seafood are other good sources. Thyroid hormones also play a critical part in normal brain development of the foetus, and up until the second trimester of pregnancy, babies cannot make any of their own thyroid hormones and are reliant on the mother to provide for them. If a mother is seriously deficient in iodine and thyroid hormones, the unborn baby may be at risk of life-changing complications, including low IQ and stunted physical growth. Other studies suggest that even mild maternal iodine deficiency is associated with lower intellect and reading ability in offspring. Previous work has shown that Northern Ireland had the lowest iodine intake of the UK.

In this study, researchers from the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast monitored iodine levels in the urine of 241 women in Northern Ireland throughout pregnancy. During the first trimester, a critical time in foetal development, the median iodine concentrations were 72µg/L, less than half the 150µg/L recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Although iodine levels increased throughout the pregnancy, they were consistently lower than recommended. The study also found that women were not getting adequate iodine intake in their diets, with an average of 133µg/day consumed out of the minimum of 250µg/day recommended by WHO.

The study also investigated a separate group of 183 women in order to assess how aware they were of iodine importance in pregnancy. When interviewed, only 5% of women felt they had adequate knowledge about iodine and only 10% were aware that dairy products were a good source.

“Our study suggests that pregnant women living in Northern Ireland are iodine deficient and have not been provided with the knowledge to improve this,” said Dr Paul McMullan, lead researcher of the study.

“Pregnant women are warned about the dangers of folic acid deficiency and foetal development but few appear to be aware of the effect of iodine deficiency. 90% of the women we interviewed felt informed about folic acid whilst only 5% had knowledge regarding iodine.”

“Although levels in the infants of this study were adequate, probably due to concentrating ability of iodine in breast milk and adequate levels in formula feed, the impact of low levels at the start of pregnancy, when brain and nerve health is most critical, is uncertain and therefore of concern.” 

This study is in line with a series of other studies which show mild iodine deficiency in pregnant women in various regions of the UK.

“Iodine deficiency is common in many countries. In the US, Canada and Australia food iodine fortification programs have been implemented, where iodine is added to table salt. At the very least we should advise women living in the UK how to optimise their iodine status in pregnancy by increasing their intake of iodine rich foods or using an iodine supplement”, said Dr McMullan.

Additional hormone measurement reveals pregnant women at high risk of preeclampsia

An additional blood test for pregnant women accurately predicts which women with high thyroid function are at risk of developing preeclampsia, according to a study presented today at the European Congress of Endocrinology. The findings may help identify high-risk pregnant women and potentially avoid unnecessary treatment that carries the risk of foetal abnormalities.

Preeclampsia is a condition that occurs during the second half of pregnancy, where women have high blood pressure and pass protein in their urine. It occurs in 2-8% pregnancies and in some cases leads to serious complications for both mother and child, including seizures, kidney failure, haemorrhage and preterm birth.

One of the risk factors for preeclampsia is hyperthyroidism, which can be caused by medical conditions such as Graves’ Disease or toxic thyroid nodules. However, high levels of hCG, a hormone that rises naturally during pregnancy, also leads to high thyroid function but this type of pregnancy-related hyperthyroidism does not have an increased risk of preeclampsia.

As taking drugs to treat high thyroid function during pregnancy carries the risk of causing foetal abnormalities, it is important to distinguish between an overactive thyroid caused by pregnancy-related hCG or one caused by a conventional underlying thyroid condition.

In this study, researchers measured the hormones of 5153 women during early pregnancy (before the 18^thweek) and found that women with high levels of thyroid hormone but low levels of hCG were between three and eleven times more likely to develop preeclampsia. Women with high levels of thyroid hormone and high levels of hCG were not at increased risk of preeclampsia. The researchers accounted for other factors including the age, smoking, education and ethnicity of the expectant mothers as well as the gender of the baby.

“Most pregnant women will have high thyroid hormone levels because of a natural rise in hCG, rather than an underlying thyroid condition like Grave’s Disease or toxic nodules”, said lead author of the study Dr Tim Korevaar from the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam.

“Doctors do not currently screen for preeclampsia, although many do measure thyroid hormone during pregnancy,” continued Dr Korevaar. “Measuring hCG as well may help doctors to more accurately interpret thyroid function tests in pregnant women.”

“Our work will potentially reassure the vast majority of patients who do not actually have an underlying thyroid condition by helping them avoid unnecessary treatment”.