Early onset group B streptococcal disease. Seven year experience and clinical scoring system.

Early onset group B streptococcal disease was reviewed for the seven year period between 1975 to 1981 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. One hundred and twenty cases were identified. The disease varied from asymptomatic bacteremia to fatal cardiopulmonary collapse. Factors associated with a poor outcome were prematurity, low Apgar score at 5 min, the presence of shock, leukopenia, rupture of membranes for more than 12 hours, and a delay in treatment after the onset of symptoms. A scoring system for probability of death based on these 6 factors was then developed. Over the seven year period mortality decreased from 50% to 10%. The only factor identified with the decrease in mortality was a significant decrease in the number of hours between the onset of symptoms and the beginning of treatment. Early recognition and prompt treatment seem to be the major causes of the decreasing mortality over the seven years of this report.