|
Take Care of Yourself – Your partner has herpes If you become infected with genital herpes during your pregnancy, your baby may be at risk of being infected. This risk is greatest if you become infected with genital herpes during the last trimester of your pregnancy.1 Here’s why… When the body is first infected with the herpes virus, the immune system produces antibodies to combat the virus and it can take several weeks to build up these antibodies. If you become infected with genital herpes later in your pregnancy, you will likely deliver your baby before this defense system is in place, putting your baby at higher risk of being infected.1 Your partner also has an important role to play in protecting your baby. To reduce the risk of passing genital herpes on to you, both of you should practice safer sex at all times during your pregnancy. Your partner must tell you when, and if, he feels any signs or symptoms of an outbreak, including any prodomal warnings such as tingling and itching that precede an outbreak. If that happens, you should both refrain from any sexual contact until the outbreak is over and your partner’s sores have completely healed. Your partner also needs to be aware that the virus can be active during times of asymptomatic viral shedding
Since the risk of infecting your baby is greatest during the last trimester, you might consider stopping all sexual contact at that time. You may find that there are other ways of enjoying sexual intimacy, without penetration or oral sex – while at the same time, you can enjoy knowing that you are doing all that you can to protect the future health of your baby. It is also important that you avoid receiving oral sex from your partner if they get or have cold sores. The herpes virus that causes cold sores (HSV-1) can be transmitted to your genitals which would create a risk of you passing the herpes virus to your newborn.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
![[?]](image/question.gif)
|
