[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-451814-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":85,"doc-detail-451814-en":134},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":78,"head_meta":80,"extra_data":82,"updated_unix":84},105,"en","a-large-prospective-study-of-group-b-streptococcus-carriage-in-pregnant-women-in-morocco-prevalence-serotype-distribution-antimicrobial-resistance-and-virulence-determinants","A large prospective study of group B Streptococcus carriage in pregnant women in Morocco - prevalence, serotype distribution, antimicrobial resistance and virulence determinants","","Background Group B streptococcus (GBS) is a commensal bacterium that can cause severe neonatal infection, and vaginal colonization is a key risk for mother-to-child transmission, making surveillance essential. Epidemiological data on maternal GBS carriage in North Africa are limited, and characterization of circulating isolates is needed to support prevention strategies, including maternal vaccination targeting capsular polysaccharides (CPS). Objectives: provide large-scale prevalence and strain characterization in pregnant women in Morocco. Methods, screening period and laboratory assays are described.",{"@graph":14,"@context":77},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/","Healthcare",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/a-large-prospective-study-of-group-b-streptococcus-carriage-in-pregnant-women-in-morocco-prevalence-serotype-distribution-antimicrobial-resistance-and-virulence-determinants/451814/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/a-large-prospective-study-of-group-b-streptococcus-carriage-in-pregnant-women-in-morocco-prevalence-serotype-distribution-antimicrobial-resistance-and-virulence-determinants/451814.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Marglet","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-09-30",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69,73],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What is the primary purpose of this study in Morocco?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"To provide the first large-scale epidemiological analysis in pregnant women in Morocco, estimating GBS carriage prevalence and characterizing circulating strains, including serotypes, antimicrobial resistance, and virulence determinants.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How were GBS screening and laboratory testing conducted?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"GBS screening was performed between April 2021 and July 2024 on 1710 pregnant women at 35–40 weeks of gestation. Capsular serotyping used multiplex PCR; antimicrobial susceptibility used disk diffusion; resistance and virulence genes were detected by PCR.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What were the main findings on carriage prevalence and serotype distribution?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The colonization prevalence was 9.9%. Serotypes Ib, IV, II, V, Ia, and III were the most prevalent, accounting for 19.8%, 17.1%, 14.3%, 13.7%, 12.3%, and 7.5%, respectively.",{"name":74,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":75},"How do the results inform vaccine and antimicrobial resistance considerations?",{"text":76,"@type":64},"A candidate hexavalent CPS vaccine (Ia, Ib, II, III, IV, V) could prevent 85.0% of cases based on serotype distribution. Macrolide and lincosamide resistance was observed (erythromycin 14.1%, clindamycin 6.4%), supporting the need for continued regional epidemiological surveillance.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":79,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":81,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":83,"site_id":7},451814,1790990049,{"code":4,"msg":86,"data":87},"success",[88,92,96,100,105,110,114,118,123,126,130],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},7,40,"healthcare",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":121,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":125},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":129},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":133},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":86,"data":135},{"doc_id":83,"user_id":136,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":137,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":138,"file_id":139,"file_url":140,"file_type":141,"file_size":142,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":127,"language":143,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":144,"faqs":145,"seo_title":146,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":147,"read_time":148,"preview_page_count":4},2336477982702,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Ben-Taleb etal. BMC Infectious Diseases (2026) 26:13 BMC Infectious Diseases  \n[https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-025-12253-y](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-025-12253-y)  \nRESEARCH Open Access  \nA large prospective study of group B   \nStreptococcus carriage in pregnant women in Morocco: prevalence, serotype distribution, antimicrobial resistance and virulence determinants  \nHanane Ben-Taleb 1,2,3, Narjis Amar 1,3, Azeddine Chakroun 1,3, Kaotar Nayme4, Amine Lamrissi5, Amal Badre6, Karima Mohtadi 1, Rosalie Sacheli7, Rajae Darfouf7, Cécile Meex7, Pierre Bogaerts2, Te-Din Huang2, Halima Lebrazi 1, Rachid Saïle 1 and Mustapha Chamekh3*  \nAbstract  \nBackground Group B streptococcus (GBS) is a commensal bacterium that can cause severe infection in neonates. Vaginal colonization with GBS is a risk factor for mother-to-child transmission and, therefore, its monitoring is essential for prevention strategies. Epidemiological data on maternal GBS carriage and the characterization of recovered isolates in North African regions are scarce, mainly due to the lack of systematic GBS screening in pregnant women. Maternal vaccination based on the use of various capsular polysaccharides (CPS) remains a promising strategy for the control of GBS infection. Therefore, studying the distribution of CPS is of paramount importance to ensure vaccine efficacy in diverse and large populations. This investigation aims to provide the first large-scale epidemiological analysis in pregnant women in Morocco, regarding prevalence of GBS carriage and the main characteristics of circulating strains.  \nMethods GBS screening was conducted between April 2021 and July 2024 on 1710 pregnant women at 35–40 weeks of gestation. Capsular serotyping was performed using multiplex PCR. Disk diffusion test was applied to evaluate antimicrobial susceptibility. Resistance genes and key virulence genes were detected by PCRs.  \nResults The prevalence of colonization was 9. 9% . The serotypes Ib, IV, II, V, Ia, and III were more prevalent, accounting for 19. 8%, 17. 1%, 14. 3%, 13. 7%, 12. 3%, and 7. 5% respectively. All GBS isolates were found to be susceptible to penicillin. Resistance to tetracycline was observed in 98. 8% of strains, with a significant correlation to the presence of tetM gene. 6.4% of isolates were clindamycin resistant and 14. 1% were erythromycin resistant, with a significant correlation to the ermB gene. In addition, mefA gene was detected in 16. 6% of erythromycin-resistant isolates.  \n*Correspondence: Mustapha Chamekh [mostafa.chamekh@ul b.be](mostafa.chamekh@ul b.be)  \nFull list of author information is available at the end of the article  \n© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creati](http://creati)[vecommons.org/l](vecommons.org/l)icenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.  \nBen-Taleb et al. BMC Infectious Diseases (2026) 26:13 Page 2 of 10  \nRegarding virulence genes, scpB was present in all tested isolates and bac, fbsA, and cyIB were found in more than 70. 0% of tested isolates, whereas rib gene was detected in 37. 5% of tes","cbCaiaGtj5iqlych","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiaGtj5iqlych","pdf",1441979,"English","# Abstract\n## Background\n## Methods\n## Results\n## Conclusion\n# Background\n## GBS epidemiology and prevention context","[{\"question\":\"What is the primary purpose of this study in Morocco?\",\"answer\":\"To provide the first large-scale epidemiological analysis in pregnant women in Morocco, estimating GBS carriage prevalence and characterizing circulating strains, including serotypes, antimicrobial resistance, and virulence determinants.\"},{\"question\":\"How were GBS screening and laboratory testing conducted?\",\"answer\":\"GBS screening was performed between April 2021 and July 2024 on 1710 pregnant women at 35–40 weeks of gestation. Capsular serotyping used multiplex PCR; antimicrobial susceptibility used disk diffusion; resistance and virulence genes were detected by PCR.\"},{\"question\":\"What were the main findings on carriage prevalence and serotype distribution?\",\"answer\":\"The colonization prevalence was 9.9%. Serotypes Ib, IV, II, V, Ia, and III were the most prevalent, accounting for 19.8%, 17.1%, 14.3%, 13.7%, 12.3%, and 7.5%, respectively.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the results inform vaccine and antimicrobial resistance considerations?\",\"answer\":\"A candidate hexavalent CPS vaccine (Ia, Ib, II, III, IV, V) could prevent 85.0% of cases based on serotype distribution. Macrolide and lincosamide resistance was observed (erythromycin 14.1%, clindamycin 6.4%), supporting the need for continued regional epidemiological surveillance.\"}]","A large prospective study of group B Streptococcus carriage in pregnant women in Morocco - prevalence, serotype distribution, antimicrobial resistance and virulence determinants | PDF",1790735974,25]