government officials have repeatedly insisted there is no evidence to support universal screening for group b strep , known as gbs .
this is despite the fact it is carried by one in four women and infects as many as 400 newborns in the uk every year .
one in ten will die .
current guidelines only recommend testing women deemed to be ` at risk ' .
crucially , clinicians noted that half of the women who tested positive for gbs would not have been classified as ` at risk ' under the current guidelines .