Monday, December 17, 2012

How Does Group Beta Strep (GBS) Affect Placenta Encapsulation

Another common question I get asked is how having Group Beta Strep, also known as GBS, present in the vaginal track during delivery affects encapsulation of the placenta.

With up to a third of women testing positive for GBS near the time of birth, the good news is a woman can still safely encapsulate her placenta for postpartum use even if she tests positive. In this case, the Traditional Chinese Method should be used because the steaming process will kill any GBS the placenta may pick up as it makes the trek down the birth canal. In this case, the Raw method of encapsulation would be contraindicated.

Another concern of women is the antibiotics that are used to treat GBS during labor and how the capsules maybe affected. The amount of antibiotics filtered by the placenta that remain in the placenta at birth in unknown, however, many women have still encapsulated their placentas following antibiotics use without any adverse effects.

Another bit of good news is that the medication used most commonly to treat GBS is Penicillin. Penicillin has a very short half life, which means that it gets eliminated by the body more quicker than many medications. Your body won't be holding onto the Penicillin with more and more adding up at every dose. Your body will be actively getting it out of your system, which more than likely means any amount in the placenta at birth will be relatively minimal.

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