A maternal vaccine against group B Streptococcus: past, present, and future

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among neonates. Though there have been tremendous advances in prevention of invasive neonatal GBS disease through prophylactic antibiotic treatment of pregnant women, the incidence of neonatal disease has not changed significantly over the past several years. Vaccination of pregnant women is an important strategy that has the potential to improve further on existing protocols. In this review, we explore the history of the design of maternal GBS vaccines. We also discuss how recent applications of genomics and immunology to vaccine design promise to further enhance our ability to develop more effective vaccines against this important disease.