Streptococcus agalactiae = Lancefield Group B

Taxonomy
Family: Streptococcaceae

Natural habitats
Isolated from human urogenital tract and intestine

Clinical significance
They are the cause of invasive neonatal infections.

Neonatal infections present as two different clinical entities
- early onset neonatal disease, characterized by sepsis and pneumonia within the first 7 days of life
- late onset disease with meningitis and sepsis between 7 days and 3 month of age.

The most important risk factor for the development of invasive neonatal disease is the colonization, urogenital by S.agalactiae, which is found by pregnant women

Infections of adult patients may be observed as postpartum infections or in immunocompromised adult patients with alcoholism, diabetes mellitus, cancer or AID’s.

The spectrum of infections in adult patients includes pneumonia, bacteremia, endocarditis, urinary tract infections, skin and soft tissue infections and osteomyelitis