Can i still get pregnant with herpes

I just found out the guy I’ve been seeing for a couple weeks has herpes. I’m full of questions, but one question I keep dwelling on is, how can people get pregnant without passing on herpes to their partner? How can I avoid getting herpes and still have a fulfilling sex life with him?

Table of Contents Show

Understanding the Risk
Managing Genital Herpes During Pregnancy
Treatment while Pregnant
Women who Don’t Have Genital Herpes
Herpes and Autism?
Herpes: Fast Facts
Herpes Signs and Symptoms
Herpes Testing
Herpes Treatment
Emotional Issues
Herpes and Relationships
Support Groups
Oral Herpes
Terri Warren Talks Genital Herpes
Is it hard to get pregnant with herpes?
How can you get pregnant if you have herpes?
Can you have a healthy pregnancy with herpes?
Can you have a baby naturally if you have herpes?

It’s normal to have complicated feelings after you find out that your partner has herpes. Millions of people are living with herpes, and sharing your concerns with your partner and educating yourself on how it’s spread are good ways to protect yourself.

Genital herpes is spread from skin-to-skin contact with someone who has it — including vaginal, anal, and oral sex. Herpes can live on areas of your body that aren’t protected by condoms (like the butt cheeks, upper thighs, and labia), so condoms won’t always protect you from herpes. But they do lower your chances of getting herpes.

Here are other ways to avoid getting herpes from your partner:

Always use condoms and dental dams during oral, anal, and vaginal sex.
Talk with your partner about taking herpes medicine every day, which can lower their chances of spreading herpes.
Don’t have sex during a herpes outbreak, even with a condom. There may be sores on places the condom doesn’t cover. Wait until the sores are totally gone, and the scabs heal and fall off.

If you’re trying to get pregnant, you can have unprotected sex with your partner as long as your partner isn’t having an outbreak (with visible sores). There’s a chance you can still get herpes this way, but the risk is smaller if your partner isn’t having any herpes symptoms. You can always talk with a nurse or doctor, like the staff at your local Planned Parenthood, about safer sex and getting pregnant.

If you are pregnant and you have genital herpes, you may be concerned about the risk of spreading the infection to your baby. Be reassured that the risk is extremely small.

If a woman with genital herpes has virus present in the birth canal during delivery, herpes simplex virus (HSV) can be spread to an infant, causing neonatal herpes, a serious and sometimes fatal condition. Neonatal herpes can cause an overwhelming infection resulting in lasting damage to the central nervous system, mental retardation, or death. Medication, if given early, may help prevent or reduce lasting damage, but even with antiviral medication, this infection has serious consequences for most infected infants.

While neonatal herpes is a serious condition, it is also very rare. Less than 0.1% of babies born in the United States each year get neonatal herpes. By contrast, some 20-25% of pregnant women have genital herpes. This means that most women with genital herpes give birth to healthy babies.

Understanding the Risk

Babies are most at risk for neonatal herpes if the mother contracts genital herpes late in pregnancy. This is because a newly infected mother does not have antibodies against the virus, so there is no natural protection for the baby during birth. In addition, a new herpes infection is frequently active, so there is an increased possibility the virus will be present in the birth canal during delivery.

Women who have genital herpes before they become pregnant have a very low risk of transmitting the virus to their babies. This is because their immune systems make antibodies that are temporarily passed to the baby through the placenta. Even if herpes is active in the birth canal during delivery, the antibodies help protect the baby. In addition, if a mother knows she has genital herpes, her doctor or midwife can take steps to protect the baby.

Herpes can also be spread to the baby in the first weeks of life if he or she is kissed by someone with an active cold sore (oral herpes). In rare instances, herpes may be spread by touch, if someone touches an active cold sore and then immediately touches the baby. Again, simple precautions can be taken to protect an infant from this type of exposure. To protect your baby, don’t kiss him or her when you have a cold sore, and ask others not to. If you have a cold sore, wash your hands before touching the baby.

Managing Genital Herpes During Pregnancy

If you’re pregnant and you have genital herpes, you may be concerned about the risk of spreading the infection to your baby. Be reassured that the risk is extremely small—especially if you have had herpes for some time. The following steps can help make the risk even smaller:

Talk with your obstetrician or midwife. Make sure they know you have genital herpes.
At the time of labor, your healthcare provider should examine you early in labor with a strong light to detect any sores or signs of an outbreak. Let your provider know if you have any signs of an outbreak—itching, tingling, or pain.
If you have an active outbreak at the time of delivery, the safest course is a Cesarean section to prevent the baby from coming into contact with virus in the birth canal. If you do not have an active outbreak, you can have a vaginal delivery.
Ask your provider not to break the bag of waters around the baby unless necessary. The bag of waters may help protect the baby against any virus in the birth canal.
Ask your provider not to use a fetal scalp monitor (scalp electrodes) during labor to monitor the baby’s heart rate unless medically necessary. This instrument makes tiny punctures in the baby’s scalp, which may allow herpes virus to enter. In most cases, an external monitor can be used instead.
Ask that a vacuum or forceps not be used during delivery unless medically necessary. These instruments can also cause breaks in the baby’s scalp, allowing virus to enter.
After birth, watch the baby closely for about three weeks. Symptoms of neonatal herpes may include a skin rash, fever, crankiness, or lack of appetite. While these can be symptoms of several mild illnesses, don’t wait to see if your baby will get better. Take him or her to the pediatrician at once. Be sure to tell the pediatrician you have genital herpes.

Remember, the odds are strongly in favor of your having a healthy baby.

Treatment while Pregnant

Many women wonder about taking antiviral medication during pregnancy to suppress outbreaks in the third trimester. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved no drug against herpes for this purpose. Nonetheless, acyclovir is used by some physicians to treat women with genital herpes at the end of pregnancy. Small studies suggest that acyclovir taken daily during the last month of pregnancy will prevent recurrences and, therefore, decrease the need for Cesarean sections, but some experts remain concerned about the safety of fetal exposure to the medication.

At the present time, acyclovir’s manufacturer does not recommend its use during pregnancy. On the other hand, the company has tracked the experiences of several hundred women who took the drug during pregnancy, some of them inadvertently, and the evidence to date suggests that acyclovir does not carry increased risk of birth defects or adverse pregnancy outcome. On the strength of this data, the use of daily, suppressive treatment during the last month of pregnancy is becoming increasingly common.

Women who Don’t Have Genital Herpes

The greatest risk of neonatal herpes is to babies whose mothers contract a genital infection late in pregnancy. While this is a rare occurrence, it does happen, and can cause a serious, even life-threatening, illness for the baby. The best way you can protect your baby is to know the facts about HSV and how to protect yourself. The first step may be finding out whether you already carry the virus.

You can talk to your healthcare provider about testing for genital herpes. If you test negative for genital herpes, but your partner has genital or oral herpes, you may acquire it unless you take steps to prevent transmission. The following steps can help protect you from getting an infection during pregnancy:

If your partner has genital herpes, abstain from sex during active outbreaks. Between outbreaks, use a condom from start to finish every time you have sexual contact, even if your partner has no symptoms. (HSV can spread when no symptoms are present.) Consider abstaining from sex (oral, vaginal, and anal) during the last trimester.
Do not let your partner perform oral sex on you if your partner has an oral herpes (cold sores, fever blisters). This can give you genital herpes.
If you don’t know whether your partner has genital HSV, you may wish to ask your partner to be tested.
If you experience genital symptoms, or believe you have been exposed to genital HSV, tell your obstetrician or midwife at once. However, be aware that herpes can lie dormant for several years. What appears to be a new infection is occasionally an old one that is causing symptoms for the first time. Talk with your provider about the best way to protect your baby.
When a pregnant woman does contract a new genital HSV infection during the last trimester, many providers will prescribe antiviral medication. If lesions or prodromal symptoms are present at the time of labor, a Cesarean section is the safest course to prevent the baby from coming into contact with virus in the birth canal. If the infection is acquired late in pregnancy, many providers would recommend a Cesarean section even without lesions present.

Herpes and Autism?

CNN and other outlets have run articles on a paper linking high levels of antibody to herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2, the main cause of genital herpes) in pregnant women with an increased risk their baby will later be found to have autism. The authors of the paper believe the potential link isn’t that the virus interacts directly with the fetus, but could be due to an inflammatory response HSV-2 causes in the mother that may ultimately interfere with the development of the baby’s nervous system.

The response to these findings has been mixed with several leading experts (including ASHA’s medical and scientific advisors) believing many unanswered questions remain and agreeing that much more research would be needed to validate these results.

“Women who have HSV-2 and who are pregnant, or planning pregnancy, should not be alarmed by this study” says Anna Wald, MD, MPH of the University of Washington. “While we need to continue to investigate the reasons for autism, I am not convinced by this study that there is a link between antibody levels to HSV in mid-pregnancy and the risk of autism.”

Bottom line: most pregnant women with HSV-2 have normal pregnancies and deliver healthy babies. Many HSV researchers and clinical experts aren’t overly concerned by these findings and don’t think women should be, either. As always, talk to your health care provider if you have questions. You can read more about herpes and pregnancy from the University of Washington Virology Research Clinic.

Herpes: Fast Facts

A brief overview answering common questions about herpes—how common it is, symptoms, testing, treatment, and more.

Herpes Signs and Symptoms

Learn the signs and symptoms of a first episode and what to expect with recurrences.

Learn more

Herpes Testing

Testing is best done when there are symptoms present, but it can also be done without symptoms.

Keep reading

Herpes Treatment

While there is no cure for herpes infections, there are various treatment options available.

Learn about treatment

Emotional Issues

Herpes may raise strong emotional issues, especially in the first few weeks or months after a diagnosis. The good news is that these emotions tend to fade away over time.

Keep reading

Herpes and Relationships

The best way for couples to deal with herpes is to talk about it openly and make decisions together.

Keep reading

Support Groups

Support groups provide information and allow participants to share experiences, fears, and feelings.

Find a group near you

Oral Herpes

Approximately 50 percent of the adult population in the United States has oral herpes, typically caused by HSV-1.

Learn more

Terri Warren Talks Genital Herpes

Listen to our two-part conversation with noted herpes expert Terri Warren, RN, ANP, on herpes testing, managing herpes in a relationship, and the emotional aspects of the diagnosis.

Is it hard to get pregnant with herpes?

A large body of research suggests that herpes poses no real risks to female fertility. Though herpes may potentially affect sperm counts in men, for the most part, those with herpes are able to conceive with no problem (barring the presence of any other fertility-affecting conditions).

How can you get pregnant if you have herpes?

Having genital herpes does not affect fertility or the ability to get pregnant. Talk to your doctor about taking antiviral tablets if you need to prevent outbreaks when you want to conceive. This is safe.

Can you have a healthy pregnancy with herpes?

Less than 0.1% of babies born in the United States each year get neonatal herpes. By contrast, some 20-25% of pregnant women have genital herpes. This means that most women with genital herpes give birth to healthy babies.

Can you have a baby naturally if you have herpes?

Herpes infections are only rarely passed on to babies during childbirth. If a woman already had herpes viruses inside her body at the start of pregnancy, there's no reason why she shouldn't give birth naturally – unless there are signs of an outbreak shortly before she goes into labor.