By Milliam Murigi
Still and preterm births are a common scene in Kenya, yet one of their key causes remains unknown.
Health experts reveal that a silent bacterial infection carried by many pregnant women is a major contributor to these tragedies.
Known as Group B Streptococcus (GBS), this largely symptomless bacterium is quietly contributing to newborn deaths and severe illness, especially across Sub-Saharan Africa.
“GBS causes severe, life-threatening infections in newborns, the elderly and immunocompromised individuals. It is recognized as the leading cause of postpartum infection and neonatal sepsis,” says Dr. Hellen Barsosio, Clinical Research Scientist, Kenya Medical Research Institute and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (KEMRI-LSTM).
According to her, despite decades of research, no licensed vaccine exists for prevention and current strategies, primarily antibiotics given during labour to prevent infection, have limited reach in resource-constrained settings.
Dr. Anne‑Beatrice Kihara, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Nairobi, College of Health Sciences, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said the infection remains “largely invisible” in Kenya because most hospitals do not routinely test for it.
“Overcrowded wards rarely have the resources to perform blood cultures needed for diagnosis,” she explained. “That means many infections are missed even in fatal cases and what is missed is never reflected in national data.”
Globally, about 20 million pregnant women carry GBS each year. The bacterium causes an estimated 400,000 infant infections, more than 90,000 newborn deaths and tens of thousands of stillbirths annually. Africa carries the heaviest burden, with infection rates more than double those in the Americas and several times higher than in Asia.
Local research shows Kenyan mothers have significant colonisation rates and a real risk of transmitting the bacteria to their babies during pregnancy or delivery. The result can be preterm birth, neonatal sepsis, or stillbirth, often with little warning.
“The health impact is profound, but we do not talk about it enough,” Dr. Kihara said, stressing that prevention is not only a medical priority but also an economic one because treatment and lifelong disability care place high costs on families and health systems.
According to Ziyaad Dangor, a clinical research director at Wits University’s VIDA Research Unit, roughly one in five pregnant women worldwide carries GBS in the rectum or vagina without symptoms. During childbirth, however, the bacteria can pass rapidly to the baby and infect vital organs.
More than 80 per cent of early-onset infections strike within the first 24 hours of life, often because transmission occurred before birth. By the time symptoms appear, intervention can be difficult.
Research presented from the NEST 360 newborn health study shows that while many sick infants receive antibiotics, very few undergo laboratory testing to confirm the cause. Without testing, GBS goes unrecorded and diseases absent from data rarely receive policy attention or funding.
According to Dr. Kihara, fragmented collaboration between researchers, clinicians and policymakers is slowing progress. Without coordinated systems linking maternal data, newborn outcomes and laboratory findings, prevention efforts remain weak.
She noted that some countries, including South Africa, have begun developing broader maternal immunization frameworks, while Kenya still lacks comprehensive guidelines beyond tetanus vaccination.
Dr. Kihara urged governments to integrate maternal immunisation into routine antenatal care and invest in rapid diagnostic tests and digital registries that can track infections in real time, especially in rural clinics without laboratories
The push aligns with continent-wide health security goals championed by the African Union, which is promoting vaccine manufacturing and stronger disease surveillance systems. Scientists say hope is on the horizon. Several maternal GBS vaccines are already in late-stage trials and target the most common strains circulating in Africa.
Keith Klugman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation told researchers that the field has reached a turning point, with immune markers now identified that predict protection. He said a vaccine could complete trials within a few years if progress continues.
Unlike current approaches that try to detect infection during labour, maternal vaccination would allow pregnant women to pass protective antibodies to their babies before birth, preventing infection altogether.
Modelling studies suggest such vaccines could avert more than 100,000 early-onset infant infections and tens of thousands of stillbirths worldwide.
“The evidence is clear, and the tools are within reach,” Dr. Kihara said. “What we need now is coordinated action before more preventable newborn deaths occur.”
