The Business of Being Born Message Board

Q: I am 34 weeks pregnant. I have oral coldsores (only under stress or too much sugar in my diet). I very rarely get an outbreak. I was wondering if this will interfere with my ability to have a vaginal birth? Do I needto take the same precautions as someone with the genital form? I only recently learned how serious coldsore infections are for newborns…one more question, should I abstain from kissing my newborn’s face? ( a hard idea for a new mother.)

Shayla

A: Shayla, Oral cold sores are caused by a different form of the herpes virus (HSV 1) than the one that causes genital outbreaks; so if you don’t have genital herpes (HSV 2), meaning that you have never had an outbreak genitally, and/or do not have HSV 2 revealed in your blood, then you do not have the genital form (HSV 2). The only danger posed to a newborn during birth would be if you had an outbreak during labor and delivery. So if you don’t have genital herpes, and by the way, up to 40%, of the general population does, there is
no risk of transmitting such hypothetical virus to the baby. The other thing you need to know is that herpes of any kind, including oral, can be transmitted to another part of yours or someone else’s body through touch or auto-inoculation. So, it is wise to refrain from touching the lesions and then touching another part of yours or someone else’s body, most notably mucous membranes. Sounds like you’ll be fine. Kiss that baby all you want, just not when you have an active or healing lesion.

Cara