Group B streptococcus infection is the
infection caused by the
bacteria Streptococcus agalactiae (
S. agalactiae) (also known as Group B
streptococcus or GBS). Group B streptococcal infection can cause serious illness and sometimes death, especially in newborns, the elderly, and people with compromised
immune systems. GBS was recognized as a pathogen in cattle by
Edmond Nocard and Mollereau in the late 1880s, but its significance as a human pathogen was not discovered before the 1938 when Fry described three fatal cases of puerperal infections caused by GBS. In the early 1960s GBS was recognized as a main cause of neonatal sepsis.