That said, this may not be necessary in all cases.
The vast majority happen during birth.
Not all pregnant women with genital herpes are at equal risk of transmitting the virus to their infant.
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That’s particularly true if they become infected near the end of their pregnancy.
That’s true even if they have an active infection during the course of their pregnancy.
The researchers found that people with asymptomatic genital HSV-2 shed detectable levels of virus 10% of the time.
That’s about half as often as people withsymptomatic infections.
However, the amount of virus they shed was similar.
Doctors can test for viral DNA during pregnancy if lesions are present.
Testing the blood for antibodies to the virus is difficult to interpret.
That’s particularly true if they are interested in having a more natural childbirth experience.
Pinninti SG, Kimberlin DW.Preventing herpes simplex virus in the newborn.Clin Perinatol.
2014;3(Suppl 1):S19S23.
doi:10.1093/jpids/piu050
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.Genital herpes.
2016;316(23):2525-2530. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.16776
