Group B Strep colonization effects about 30% of pregnant women. Of these 30% of women, a very few of their babies will get very sick, and a few of the sick babies will die. Read the mainstream medical view about Group B Strep on the Center for Disease Control website.

Antibiotics takes that small number and cuts it in half. The hospital protocol for Group B Strep is to test every woman with a swab between 36 and 38 weeks gestation. Positive testing women will receive IV antibiotics during labor. Some women have looked for alternatives to the antibiotic treatment. Antibiotics are effective but carry the risk of yeast infections and, rarely, allergic reactions. In Europe, some women are using Hibiclens. A few women use garlic. Probiotic use is recommended, though not as a labor treatment. Discuss self treatment with your doctor or midwife. The following information is not advice or a recommendation. Decide for yourself.

Peaceful Parenting blog offers this description of how to use  a seriously strong cleanser to combat Group B Strep colonization in labor.

Chlorhexidine (Hibiclens) Protocol for Labor

Chlorhexidine vaginal wash at the onset of labor or at rupture of membranes, whichever comes first, repeated every six hours.

Method:

• 2 Tbsp Hibiclens (4% chlorhexidine solution) mixed with 20 oz sterile water.
• You may be most comfortable in a squatting or sitting position (even on the toilet) or laying down with your hips slightly elevated.
• Put 4oz of the mixture into a periwash bottle. Use the entire amount for each application.
• Slowly instill the solution into the vagina under very gentle pressure using a peribottle.
• Begin at onset of labor or ROM and repeat every six hours.
• A woman can self administer the vaginal flush, and her spouse/partner can assist as well if she wishes.


Helen references the 1992 Am. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 162(1):1171.

Vaginal disinfection with chlorhexidine during childbirth. Stray-Pedersen B, Bergan T, Hafstad A, Normann E, Grogaard J, Vangdal M. Int J Antimicrob Agents 1999 Aug;12(3):245-51

Lancet: Burman LG et al. Prevention of excess neonatal morbidity associated with group B streptococci by vaginal chlorhexidine disinfection during labour. Lancet 1992; 340: 65- 69.

Chlorhexidine versus sterile water vaginal wash during labor to prevent peripartum infection. Sweeten KM, Eriksen NL, Blanco JD. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1997 Feb;176(2):426-30

GBS/Vaginal Wash Alternative-long J Matern Fetal Med 2002 Feb;11(2):84-8 Chlorhexidine vaginal flushings versus systemic ampicillin in the prevention of vertical transmission of neonatal group B streptococcus, at term.

Midwife Judy Sloane teaches how to use garlic to kill Vaginal GBS. Judy wrote for www.gentlebirth.org, the website of

Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA

It is difficult to get rid of GBS because it recolonizes the vagina easily, probably from the intestines. Doctors have developed a way to decrease GBS colonization at birth, to protect the baby on her way out, with a large dose of Penicillin in the veins which must be given  4 hours before birth.

Since garlic also kills GBS, perhaps Garlic may be able to prevent newborn GBS disease by using it directly in the vagina in the weeks before birth. Fresh cut or crushed Garlic kills GBS for an hour or two after being cut.  Garlic may have less side effects than Penicillin in preventing GBS. 10% of people are allergic to Penicillin, whereas garlic causes allergic reactions about 1 in 100,000 people. Garlic to pregnant women lowers their blood pressure.(1,2,3,4) To date, no studies have found harmful effects of oral garlic in pregnancy. Each study found garlic to have a protective effect in pregnancy.

I am collecting results from women around the world thru email.  Women in many countries are routinely cultured towards the end of pregnancy for GBS.  If the results are positiveà when labor starts, the doctor orders 2 million units of Penicillin as a first dose and then 1 million units every 4 hours.

1 in about 5,000 women will have life long kidney damage from an allergic reaction to the Penicillin. Alternatives to penicillin are not nearly as effective in protecting the baby from GBS. Approximately 1 full term baby per 2000-5000 will be saved by the antibiotics.

When Garlic is inserted vaginally for 8 nights it will convert a large percentage of women who previously cultured positive(+) to GBS negative(-), if the culture is taken immediately after the last day of treatment.

Garlic cloves differ in their amount of active, anti-microbial ingredient, called "allicin". The active ingredient is released upon cutting or crushing the clove. The active ingredient is toxic to GBS as well as yeast and cancer cells.  If a woman has damaged vaginal skin inserting garlic may result in a burning sensation when the garlic touches the lips, but usually stops when it is inserted inside.

Just as antibiotics have bad side effects, it seems logical that garlic also has side effects. This study proposes to test an alternative to antibiotics, but does not promise results. That’s why it is a study!

Garlic protocol:

• Break a fresh, dry, hard clove from a bulb of garlic and peel off the paper-like cover. Cut in half. A whole clove will NOT work.  A crushed clove releases more allicin, but is harder to insert.  Sew a string thru it for easy retrieval. Putting the clove in gauze will prevent direct contact and decrease effectiveness.
• Put damaged garlic clove in  your vagina in the evening before you go to sleep. Many women taste garlic in their mouths as soon as it is in their vagina- so it is less pleasant to treat while awake.
• In the morning, the garlic may come out when you poop. If not, many women find it is easiest to take it out on the toilet. Circle the vagina with a finger, till you find it. It cannot enter the uterus through the cervix. It cannot get lost- but it can get pushed into the pocket between the cervix and the vaginal wall.
• Most people will taste the garlic as long as it is in there. So if you still taste it, it is probably still in there. Most women have trouble getting it out the first time.
• For easy retrieval sew a string through the middle of the clove before you put it in-  You don't want to get irritated in the process of getting rid of the GBS. Be gentle. Don't scratch yourself with long nails.  Repeat this for 8 nights (around week 36). Or for 2 nights on, 1 night off, for  5 times (8 nights in 15 days)
• After the eight night of treatment, get cultured at the health care place you go to. Before you go to get the culture, wash perineum and rectal area with soap and put on clean cotton underwear.  GBS usually lives in your large intestine, and from there contaminates the vagina.  A Rectal/Vaginal culture is done with a cotton swab inserted into the vagina and then into the anus.

When women are treated with antibiotics, the GBS returns soon after antibiotics regime is finished. The same is probably true with garlic. Therefore, if you culture positive and then use garlic to get a negative culture, you might consider inserting garlic once a week until you deliver the baby.

The level of garlic "smell" is a very poor indication of the real amount of
allicin (active ingredient) that is generated. The olfactory receptors of the average person are so sensitive that even 1 mg of allicin molecules in the air will saturate the receptors so our nose and seem the same as 100 mg.
 
 

Allicin is gradually produced in the crushed clove for about 2 hours after the clove is damaged and simultaneously degraded. Once in contact with the mucosa or bacteria it degrades rapidly. No one knows how long it can be active when in contact with mucosa.

Bacteria are about 30 times more sensitive to allicin than human cells but at high concentrations also human cells suffer so use smaller amounts of crushed garlic with more frequent changes.
 
 
 

If you decide to try this [Garlic] protocol, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with as much information as possible: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and put GBS in the subject line:

1. History of GBS on previous pregnancy or is this your first pregnancy?

2.Garlic treatment= ___ nights?  Half clove? Full clove?

3.Date of culture- was it urine culture? recto-vaginal swab? Vaginal culture?

4.Results of culture after garlic treatment.

5. please describe any adverse/untoward events

I will publish the results as soon as I have the results of 300 women who have used the protocol. No personal identification information would be kept – your  information will be combined with others and hopefully published in tabulated form in a medical journal, so that future patients would benefit from your efforts.
 

References:

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/RR/RR5111.pdf

http:

References:

1.  Prevention of fumonisin-induced maternal and developmental toxicity in rats by certain plant extracts. J Appl Toxicol Nov-Dec 2004;24(6):469-74.

2.  Emergence of Long-Term Memory for Conditioned Aversion in the Rat Fetus. Dev Psychobio 2004; 44: 189–198.

3.  Protective effects of garlic juice against embryotoxicity of methylmercuric chloride administered to pregnant Fischer 344 rats. Yonsei Med J. 1999;40(5):483-9.

4. The effect of garlic on plasma lipids and platelets in primips with high risk of preeclampsia. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2001 Dec 1;99(2):201-6.

PS. In case you were wondering: Garlic ingestion by pregnant women alters the odor of amniotic fluid. Chem Senses. 1995 Apr;20(2):207-9.

We thank Ronnie Falcoa and Judy Sloane for the garlic protocol.

Yogurt for a healthy vagina.

Scroll down and read this interesting proposal to apply yogurt vaginally for three days. Much of the gram negative bacteria was gone leaving healthy bacteria.

http://midwiferyeducation.tripod.com/id4.html