article_snippet.sent: Government officials have repeatedly insisted there is no evidence to support universal screening for Group B Strep, known as GBS.
article_snippet.sent: Crucially, clinicians noted that half of the women who tested positive for GBS would not have been classified as 'at risk' under the current guidelines –
article_snippet.sent: The UK National Screening Committee carried out a review in 2012 in collaboration with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Midwives and NHS England.
article_snippet.sent: The UK National Screening Committee concluded that not all women who test positive for GBS will go on to develop the infection or pass the infection on to not all women who test positive for GBS babies, so blanket screening would mean pregnant women would be unnecessarily given antibiotics, which carry pregnant women own risks to the foetus.
article_snippet.sent: Jane Plumb, chief executive of the charity Group B Strep Support, said: 'The risk-based strategy has failed to reduce the rate of GBS infection, and these findings contradict the party line that the risks of screening every woman would outweigh the benefits.'
article_snippet.sent: Our work shows that GBS screening of all expectant mothers can work and is likely to be more effective than the current risk based approach.'
article_snippet.sent: Since we began we comprehensive screening programme, I have not seen a new case in the babies of the mothers we have screened.'
highlights_snippet.sent: Officials have said no evidence to support screening for Group B Strep .
  