Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ii) This illness can cause mental and physical disabilities and in the worst cases death. (iii) But remember even if you have genital herpes, you can still have a healthy a baby. (iv) There are things that you can do to reduce the risks to your baby, but ﬁrst you need to know if you have the genital herpes virus. What Is the Purpose of a Blood Test for Genital Herpes? (i) As mentioned, the ﬁrst step is to take the test so that you are aware of whether or not you have herpes. (ii) If you take the test today, at your next visit we will be able to tell you the results of the test. (iii) Even if you think you do not have the virus, it is important to take the test to determine that you in fact do not have herpes, then you can take steps to reduce the risk of getting herpes, especially during your pregnancy. What Does It Mean If My Test Is Negative? (i) If your test shows that you are negative, you do not have herpes but if you were only recently exposed (within the last 3 months) a repeat test may be needed. (ii) It also means that it is important for you to take steps to keep from getting the virus during your pregnancy: (a) know if your partner is infected, (b) practice safer sex including use of condoms. What Does It Mean If My Test Is Positive? (i) If your test shows that you are positive, you do have herpes. (ii) As with any medical test, there is a small chance the positive result is a false positive. If you need to conﬁrm the results, there are diﬀerent tests that can be done. (iii) Remember, genital herpes is more common than diseases like diabetes and asthma. So if you have herpes, you are not alone, and you should not feel embarrassed or ashamed. (iv) If you do have this virus, there are things you can do for yourself and your baby. What Is the Importance of the Cold Sore Virus (HSV-1)? (i) HSV-1 (the cold sore virus) can also cause a genital herpes infection by being spread during oral-genital sex. (ii) Women who have HSV-1 have little to no risk for spreading HSV-1 to their baby because they have developed protective antibodies to this virus that they pass to their baby. 9 (iii) If you do not have HSV-1, it is important for you to take steps to keep from getting HSV-1 during pregnancy: (a) know if your partner has HSV-1, (b) abstain from oral-genital sex during your preg- nancy. Acknowledgments GlaxoSmithKline funded this study. The authors acknowl- edge Jane Saiers, Ph.D., for assistance with writing the paper. GlaxoSmithKline funded Dr. Saiers’ work. References [1] F. Xu, M. R. Sternberg, B. J. Kottiri et al., “Trends in herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 seroprevalence in the United States,” Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 296, no. 8, pp. 964–973, 2006. [2] D. T. Fleming, G. M. Mcquillan, R. E. Johnson et al., “Herpes simplex virus type 2 in the United States, 1976 to 1994,” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 337, no. 16, pp. 1105– 1111, 1997. [3] F. Xu, L. E. Markowitz, S. L. Gottlieb, and S. M. Berman, “Seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 in pregnant women in the United States,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, vol. 196, no. 1, pp. 43.e1–43.e6, 2007. [4] D. A. Baker, “Antiviral therapy for genital herpes infections in pregnancy,” Expert Review of Anti-Infective Therapy, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 385–392, 2005. [5] D. W. Kimberlin, “Herpes simplex virus infections in neonates and early childhood,” Seminars in Pediatric Infectious Diseases, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 271–281, 2005. [6] R. Whitley, E. A. Davis, and N. Suppapanya, “Incidence of neonatal herpes simplex virus infections in a managed-care population,” Sexually Transmitted Diseases, vol. 34, no. 9, pp. 704–708, 2007. [7] D. W. Kimberlin, “Neonatal herpes simplex infection,” Clinical Microbiology Reviews, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1–13, 2004. [8] “Management of herpes in pregnancy. ACOG practice bulletin no. 82,” Obstetrics & Gynecology, vol. 109, pp. 1489–1498, 2007. [9] C. Gardella, J. Barnes, A. S. Magaret, J. Richards, L. Drolette, and A. Wald, “Prenatal herpes simplex virus serologic screen- ing beliefs and practices among obstetricians,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, vol. 110, no. 6, pp. 1364–1370, 2007. [10] Z. A. Brown, C. Gardella, A. Wald, R. A. Morrow, and L. Corey, “Genital herpes complicating pregnancy,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, vol. 106, no. 4, pp. 845–856, 2005. [11] Z. Brown, “Preventing herpes simplex virus transmission to the neonate,” Herpes, vol. 11, supplement 3, pp. 175A–186A, 2004. [12] Z. A. Brown, “HSV-2 speciﬁc serology should be oﬀered routinely to antenatal patients,” Reviews in Medical Virology, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 141–144, 2000. [13] D. Baker, Z. Brown, L. M. Hollier et al., “Cost-eﬀectiveness of herpes simplex virus type 2 serologic testing and antiviral therapy in pregnancy,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, vol. 191, no. 6, pp. 2074–2084, 2004.