Clinical Utility of Pourmedia ViGBS Agar Medium for Group B Streptococcus Screening.

Group B Streptococcus (hereinafter GBS) is the main pathogen in neonatal sepsis and meningitis, accounting for approximately one quarter of the cases. 1) Prevention of infection is therefore crucial. The GBS carriage testing of pregnant women is necessary to prevent infections. In this study, we examined the clinical utility of Pourmedia ViGBS agar medium (Eiken Chemical Co., Ltd.) in GBS screening, using a total of 197 vaginal and urine samples. Of these samples, 32 (16.2%) tested GBS positive with Pourmedia ViGBS agar medium, and 29 (14.7%) tested GBS positive with Nissui separated plate sheep blood agar/Drigalski agar medium (Nissui Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.). These results indicate the usefulness of Pourmedia ViGBS agar medium as a GBS screening selective agar medium.