ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Clinical and Diagnostic Microbiology and Immunology
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1655649
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Vaginal Microbiome and Metabolite Research: Genetics, Evolution, and Clinical PerspectivesView all 12 articles
Molecular Epidemiology and Antibiotic Resistance of Group B Streptococcus in Pregnant Women and Neonates from Haikou, China: Implications for Vaccine Development and Antimicrobial Stewardship
Provisionally accepted
Wenhui Mai1
Huiting Wang2Qiaoyi Meng2Jingyi Zhang3Xinyi Gong3Zhulin Zhuo1Jinlei Sui2Xiaowen He2Yan Wang2
Juan Li3*
Jianping Xu4*Jinyan Wu2*- 1Haikou Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Haikou, China, Haikou, China
- 2Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
- 3Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
- 4McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
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Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a major cause of pregnancy complication and neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly in developing regions. Despite its clinical importance, data on the molecular epidemiology, antibiotic resistance, and virulence factors of GBS in tropical regions are scarce. This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of GBS strains from pregnant women and neonates in Haikou, a tropical city in China, via antibiotic susceptibility testing and whole-genome sequencing. Our results grouped the 138 strains of GBS into seven serotypes and 28 multilocus sequence types (STs).These STs belonged to six clonal complexes (CCs). High antibiotic resistance rates were observed for tetracycline (89.1%) and clindamycin (55.1%) and the commonly detected resistance genes included mreA (100%), ermB (52.9%) and tetM (41.3%). Each strain contained at least one Pili-island (PI) gene and the capsular polysaccharide antigen among the GBS isolates were variably associated with CCs. All strains carried virulence genes cfb and cylE, followed by pavA (99.3%), and lmb (66.7%) etc. Our analyses showed ST862 as a dominant and potentially zoonotic genotype in Haikou, China, with implications for both human and animal health. The high prevalence of tetracycline and clindamycin resistance underscores the need for judicious antibiotic use and the development of region-specific antibiotic treatment guidelines. The discovery of novel STs and broad distributions of several virulence factors provide valuable insights for future vaccine development and targeted interventions in this region.
Keywords: group B streptococcus, Molecular Epidemiology, antibiotic resistance, Virulence Factors, Whole-genome sequencing
Received: 28 Jun 2025; Accepted: 17 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mai, Wang, Meng, Zhang, Gong, Zhuo, Sui, He, Wang, Li, Xu and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Juan Li, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
Jianping Xu, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Jinyan Wu, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
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