This site is intended for healthcare professionals

account_circleSign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Effect of genital herpes on pregnancy

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Most women with a history of genital herpes will have normal pregnancies and healthy babies.

However the following associations exist:

  • spontaneous abortion - there is a higher early abortion rate, especially if the disease is primary
  • still birth
  • low birth weight
  • premature delivery - when an attack occurs in the last trimester
  • primary infection in the first trimester is teratogenic. The risk is minor however and not an indication for therapeutic abortion.
  • if herpes is present at the cervix, then there is a risk of the baby becoming infected during birth - 50% of babies born to infected mothers are infected

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.