THE Government is facing calls to introduce a nation-wide screening programme to combat a disease that accounts for the death of 100 babies every year.

Campaigners say a simple test would prevent the deaths and stop hundreds more babies becoming ill.

The charity Group B Strep Support (GBSS), which raises awareness about Group B Streptococcus (GBS), will press for all pregnant women to have the chance of being screened for the bacterial organism when it meets Health Minister Stephen Ladyman.

About a third of men and women carry it in their intestines without it harming them, but if passed to a baby during pregnancy, it can result in serious infections and may lead to death.

A test for GBS, called a High Vaginal Swab (HVS), is available on the NHS, but it is not routinely offered to pregnant women. When it is, it only picks up about half of positive cases.

Jane Plumb, chairwoman and co-founder of GBSS, said she hoped to highlight the gap in provision when she speaks to the minister on Thursday.

The group wants the HVS test to be replaced with the more accurate Enriched Culture Method test, which at present is only offered privately.

It says that almost all GBS-induced deaths and illnesses could be avoided by screening at 35 to 37 weeks of pregnancy and giving women who test positive intravenous antibiotics from the start of labour.

Kathryn Phillips, 37, from Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, is in favour of routine screening.

Despite being a nurse, she had no idea that GBS could affect babies until her son, Liam, now nine, was diagnosed with it soon after birth.

She welcomed the first national guidelines on gauging the risk of GBS in pregnancies, issued by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists last November, but said that unless these were implemented, with routine testing, families would continue to suffer.