'I had no idea I was positive for deadly infection I could have passed my baby - until I got lucky moments before giving birth'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A mum-of-two had no idea she was carrying a deadly infection which could have been passed to her baby during birth until just moments before she went into labour.

Amy Winters went into hospital to give birth to her second child in May of 2023 after her waters broke early at 34 weeks. Amy was she going to have her baby weeks earlier than planned, but that turned out to be a potentially life-saving coincidence.

Amy happened to be in the Saint Mary's maternity unit at North Manchester General Hospital which is trialling a rapid bedside test to protect newborns from group B streptococcus (GBS) - a type of bacteria that can be passed onto babies during birth.

GBS is the most common cause of life-threatening infection in newborn babies in the UK. READ MORE: 'I wasn't told anything about life-threatening illness until my newborn nearly died from it' Approximately one in four pregnant women in the UK carry GBS, often without realising it, and there is a 50 per cent chance that the baby will be exposed to GBS during birth.