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Genital Herpes Infection in Pregnant Women Near Term

From the Infectious Diseases Branch, National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda, Maryland; and Maternity Center Associates, Bethesda, Maryland

Abstract

A study of 215 middle income, predominantly white, suburban women for herpes simplex virus infection revealed that ten (4.6%) had positive herpes cultures near term and thus were at risk for transmission of herpes simplex virus to their newborn. Eight of these women had a previous history of herpes simplex virus infection, and seven of the eight had lesions suggestive of herpes simplex virus at the time of study. Only one patient had lesions at delivery. On the basis of past history of genital herpes or partners with herpes, 25 of the 215 women were at high risk for genital herpes near term. Thus, careful questioning identified a high-risk group of 25 patients in which eight (32%) were shedding virus near term, and this group included the majority (eight of ten) of the herpes simplex virus-infected women in the study population. There were no cases of neonatal herpes in the children born from the 215 pregnancies.