Group B Streptococcus and HIV Infection in Pregnant Women, Malawi, 2008–2010

To determine whether an association exists between group B streptococcus carriage and HIV infection, we recruited 1,857 pregnant women (21.7% HIV positive) from Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi.Overall, group B streptococcus carriage was 21.2% and did not differ by HIV status.However, carriage was increased among HIV-positive women with higher CD4 counts.G roup B streptococcus (GBS) is the major cause of neonatal meningitis and septicemia in Malawi, a problem that has only recently been recognized (1).A similar pattern of disease has emerged from other countries in eastern and southern Africa (2-8).The geographic distribution of these reports led us to speculate that an association exists between GBS and HIV infection.Carriage of GBS is a prerequisite for the development of early-onset neonatal GBS disease (9) and is a convenient endpoint for a cross-sectional study to assess the interaction of GBS and HIV.