Q: I'm a little confused and very concerned. Today, at my OB visit he told me that the test came back positive and asked if I'd had any cold sores. I told him no because I don't think I've ever had one. He told me to contact him if I got any. Although my husband gets them once in a blue moon. I know that 90% of people have the herpes 1 virus around their mouth. Last I knew though they were nothing to worry about, unless they are on your genitals. Neither of us have ever had sores on our genitals. I wasn;t worried at the time becasue like I said, most people do have simplex 1. My question is should I worry about my baby? What is going to happen to her being that it is active in my blood and she is in my womb? I didn't think anything but now I don't know. Why would the doctor bring it up if it wasn't anything to be concerned about. 90% of people have the oral herpes simplex1. Just called my doctor. Said that there was nothing to worry about unless I have had the sores on my genitals, which I haven't. Thank you all for your informitive answers.
A: The only real danger to the baby is if you're having an active outbreak of genital herpes as your baby passes through the birth canal. Since your herpes is unlikely to be genital (even though you could have asymptomatic outbreaks and not know it), your baby should be just fine if he/she is born in between outbreaks. Also, if you contracted the infection before getting pregnant, your baby is less likely to become infected due to your antibodies being passed on to your baby in utero. However, should your baby become infected, it can have very serious lifelong consequences and even be fatal, so find out as much as you can about your infection, where on your body the outbreaks occur, get tested regularly for herpes on your private parts to see if there's any shedding you don't notice, and if so, keep an eye out for a possible outbreak when it's time to give birth and consider having a c-section instead.