Herpes simplex infection at term. What to do with mother, newborn, and nursery personnel

Abstract

LITTLE has been published regarding infection control procedures for the woman with an active herpetic infection at term, or for her newborn infant. As yet, no authoritative body has addressed itself to these points in generally available journals. There is also no current agreement on the criteria for cesarean section in the woman with genital herpes infection at term and no uniform policy for managing nursery personnel with herpetic lesions on exposed body surfaces. That guidelines are needed is apparent from numerous requests to our unit for advice on dealing with such problems. In this article, the risks to the newborn arising from herpetic infection in the mother at term are considered and the possible role of cesarean section in minimizing these risks is reviewed. Based on these data, recommendations for treating such mothers are made. In addition, we suggest infection control procedures for the mothers, their newborns, and for