Does the child get herpes?

Question

When the mother is giving birth, and she has genital herpes, does the child get them too?

and would they get genital herpes or just herpes.

Answer 1

slim chance

Answer 2

thers a chance.maybe a c-section woulld be appriate.but ia m not a doctor.why would u ask,if its not you or a friends situation?awefully random.

Answer 3

The child would have a better chance of getting it but it's not 100% that the child will have them

Answer 4

No.

In very rare instances, where the mother has a recently-caught genital herpes infection and is experiencing an outbreak at the time of a vaginal birth, the baby can get neonatal herpes.

Neonatal herpes is not genital herpes. The baby gets herpes on it's skin as it passes through the birth canal and gets infected where the virus manages to enter. The most common places for a baby to catch herpes are the extremities like the fingers, and the mouth and eyes. Rarely (as can also happen to people with oral herpes) the herpes can cause encephalitis and the baby can die. This can be prevented with the use of anti-viral drugs.

Genital herpes among child-bearing women is very common, and herpes in babies is rare. Between one in four and one in two pregnant women have genital herpes. In a UK study of all cases of neonatal herpes, NONE occurred in the babies of women who had caught herpes before getting pregnant. All happened when the women had caught genital herpes in the later stages of pregnancy.

A c-section is only considered necessary if the mother is experiencing an outbreak when she goes into labour. Even so, if she has had herpes a while, she is unlikely to pass it to the baby, who is protected by the maternal antibodies.

My sister has genital herpes like me, and has had three healthy and herpes-free babies via vaginal delivery.

Answer 5

I think a child can go blind if a woman has herpes & gives a natural birth. The woman will have to have a  cesarean section to avoid this. I know because a friend of mine does have herpes & had to get a  cesarean section with all of her 4 children.

Answer 6

If she is having an outbreak at the time, yes, the child can get herpes.  Usually, if the doctors consider it a risk they do a C-section.  What can happen is the child will get herpes in it's eyes, nose, mouth and on it's skin.  Herpes in the eyes is exceptionally dangerous - it can cause blindness.  They could get genital herpes if that's what touched the herpes sores.  

Like I said, doctors are usually very careful to moniter a woman with genital herpes right before she gives birth. If there is any question of her being ok - they just do a C-section.  

Answer 7

It is possible if the mother is having an outbreak, but it is rare. What is suggested is before the mother is to give birth, about two weeks before, she is to take her meds to stop outbreaks. That way she can have a vaginal birth. If she wants to be on the safe side, she can just have a c-section which would eliminate that chance. It is also said that a mother with herpes can pass on anti-bodies to the unborn child which will stop that baby from ever contracting herpes EVER.  

Answer 8

i know someone who gave vaginal birth with herpes, and its really awful what happened to the child. i think it got the infection in its nasal passage way, and the child has all sorts of health problems. then i know tons of people who got the c-section and their kids are fine

Answer 9

The baby does get herpes from the infected mother if she has an OUTBREAK at the time of VAGINAL DELIVERY if she doesn't have an outbreak and does vaginal delivery then nothing will happen but if the mother has an outbreak at the time of giving birth they giv you valtrex through the ivy and do an emergency c section

Answer 10

Actually, the Mom's that have herpes prior to becoming pregnant don't really have anything to worry about. Most are put on suppressive therapy during the last 6 weeks of pregnancy to avoid an outbreak during labor and delivery.

It's the Mom's that don't know their herpes status OR contract herpes during the last trimester of the pregnancy that probably have more to worry about.

At this point in time herpes testing is not part of the routine testing process for pregnant Moms. It should be but it's not. It's also a good idea to have the partner tested just in case he has herpes and she doesn't. That way they can avoid it during the last trimester all together.

It's assumed that Moms with herpes should have a c-section and that's just not true at all. Moms with herpes can have normal healthy babies via vaginal delivery.

Check out the pregnancy section on the link below..

Answer 11

If she delivers vaginally, yes it is possible to pass the herpes on. If she has a C-Section, this is avoided. The symplex-type of herpes passed on would be the same as the mother.