8 Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynecology Table 4: Summary of the Understanding Counseling Questionnaire. Data are expressed as (%) of participants answering the true/false questions correctly. Visit 1 Genital herpes is a contagious virus spread by intimate skin-to-skin contact. Genital herpes is a very common disease. You cannot spread herpes to your newborn at the time of delivery. Even if you have genital herpes, it is still possible to have a healthy baby. There is no test you can take to ﬁnd out if you have the virus. There is no cure for genital herpes. HSV-1 (the cold sore virus) can cause genital herpes. Visit 2 Genital herpes cannot be spread by intimate skin-to-skin contact. Genital herpes can be active without any visible signs or symptoms of an outbreak. If you get genital herpes late in your pregnancy, your baby will have a high risk of getting herpes. Even though you have tested negative, it is still possible that your partner has genital herpes. You can reduce your risk of getting herpes by practicing safer sex. If your partner has genital herpes, he can take medicine to treat his herpes and reduce the risk of spreading it to you. If you get HSV-1 (the cold sore virus) genital infection during your pregnancy, you can pass it on to your baby. Visit 2 Herpes is less common than diabetes or asthma. Once diagnosed, it is diﬃcult to know how long you have had genital herpes. Genital herpes can be treated to reduce the risk of having outbreaks. You cannot spread genital herpes to your newborn at the time of delivery. There are things you can do to reduce the risk of spreading genital herpes to your baby at the time of delivery. Genital herpes can be cured. If you get HSV-1 (the cold sore virus) genital infection during your pregnancy, you can pass it on to your baby. Sample (N = 303) Subgroup willing to be tested (n = 134) Subgroup unwilling to be tested (n = 169) 95 94 96 97 >99 96 85 85 86 97 97 97 95 94 95 (n = 302) 87 (n =85168) 86 70 68 71 HSV seronegative participants (n = 107) 86 98 HSV seropositive participants (n = 27) 86 100 100 95 75 92 96 100 85 100 88 81 (iv) It is possible that what you think are yeast infections, urinary tract infections, or vaginal discharge actually may be cases of genital herpes. (v) Remember, there is no cure for herpes. However treatment options are available to treat this disease. Who Has Genital Herpes? (i) One in ﬁve Americans over the age of 14 has the genital herpes virus, that is approximately 45 million people. (ii) And when you consider that among American adults who have the genital herpes virus, 9 out of 10 (40 million) do not even know they have it. (iii) Anyone who is sexually active—even with just one person—can get GH; there are up to one million new cases each year. (iv) You may want to ﬁnd out if your symptoms are actually what you think they are. Why Is It Important to the Pregnant Woman? (i) If you have the genital herpes virus, you are at a risk of spreading herpes to your newborn at the time of delivery. What Are the Risks to the Baby? (i) If the baby gets the herpes virus, also called neonatal herpes, the baby usually gets sick during the ﬁrst one to two weeks of life.