Types of Infection

Español: Tipos de infección

Among babies, there are 2 main types of group B strep disease:

• Early-onset — occurs during the first week of life.
• Late-onset — occurs from the first week through three months of life.

Early-onset disease used to be the most common type of disease in babies. Today, because of effective early-onset disease prevention, early and late-onset disease occur at similar low rates.

For early-onset disease, group B strep most commonly causes sepsis (infection of the blood), pneumonia (infection in the lungs), and sometimes meningitis (infection of the fluid and lining around the brain). Similar illnesses are associated with late-onset group B strep disease. Meningitis is more common with late-onset group B strep disease than with early-onset group B strep disease.

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