Transmission to child

[Anonuk]

Hi, we spoke on the phone last week and your reassurance was great but unfortunately my anxiety and OCD on this issue have got the better of me and so I was hoping you could reiterate that advice in writing so that I have something to refer back to in my crazy moments!
To cut a long story short I had an initial episode of genital herpes around 13 years ago, the symptoms of which only came out some 6 months or so after I was infected. I don’t remember whether it was swabbed or blood tested, possibly just visually diagnosed, and the clinic no longer have records. If we assume for this though that it was herpes, my main concern is transmission to my son who is now 4 months old. I am satisfied he did not contract it through birth as I had a c section anyway but for the last 3 weeks or so I have been freaking out that I have somehow inadvertently passed it to him since then. I should point out that since my first OB I have not had any other episodes that I have put down to herpes, I am sure I have had the odd lump, bump, itch over the years which, thinking about it now could have been herpes, but nothing so obvious that I ever associated with this at the time. Therefore if I have had virus present since my sons birth it has either been with very mild or no symptoms or through viral shredding.
My questions are:
1. When I get my son washed in the morning I clean all his bits with cotton wool and water and then rub talcum powder into the whole area covered by his nappy for a couple of minutes, including his genital area, to make sure it’s all dry. I have usually just got out of the shower when I do this and so don’t have underwear on, if for some unknown reason, I had touched or itched myself in the middle of this and then carried on rubbing his talc in is this a transmission risk?
2. If my husband had been touching me intimately (so for longer than a quick itch as above) and then changed our sons nappy within a minute or two of this without washing his hands in between is there any risk?
3. Do the antibodies that I passed to my son in the womb help to prevent him catching the virus altogether for the first 6 months or do they just mean that if he did catch it he would have less / no symptoms? I’m hoping that if he came into contact with a very small amount of virus they would be able to kill it off altogether!
Really sorry to be repeating myself here after our conversation and as I write this it all sounds a bit ridiculous but that’s what being a crazy anxious new Mum does to you!
Thank you

[Terri Warren]

I know you are worried about this and it’s OK to ask for further clarification. As I think we discussed, the first think I really really want you to do is to get a firm diagnosis. One episode of genital herpes with an iffy diagnosis is just not enough.

1. When I get my son washed in the morning I clean all his bits with cotton wool and water and then rub talcum powder into the whole area covered by his nappy for a couple of minutes, including his genital area, to make sure it’s all dry. I have usually just got out of the shower when I do this and so don’t have underwear on, if for some unknown reason, I had touched or itched myself in the middle of this and then carried on rubbing his talc in is this a transmission risk?

No, it isn’t. whatever tiny tiny amount of virus you MIGHT have gotten on your finger, which I would bet you did not anyway, would be insufficient to infect your son. It takes a certain volume of virus to infect someone else – and it is isn’t a tiny amount.

2. If my husband had been touching me intimately (so for longer than a quick itch as above) and then changed our sons nappy within a minute or two of this without washing his hands in between is there any risk?

Again, I don’t believe there is any risk here. The amount of virus that he might have on his hands is so tiny and I think if he also did the cotton ball and water routine, if he did have any virus at all on his hands after touching you, it would come off on the part of the cotton ball that he was touching, not the part that was touching your son, but again, I don’t think it would ever ever get to that place!

3. Do the antibodies that I passed to my son in the womb help to prevent him catching the virus altogether for the first 6 months or do they just mean that if he did catch it he would have less / no symptoms? I’m hoping that if he came into contact with a very small amount of virus they would be able to kill it off altogether!

Yes, they do, it will help protect him for about 6 months.
I can tell you that I have never personally encounter, nor have I ever heard of any cases of herpes being transmitted to a baby from a parent with genital herpes, and I know about these things. There are many moms like you that worry about this but it just doesn’t happen. You love him so much you can’t imagine anything bad at all happening to him, but even worse would be YOU doing it and your mind goes to those worst case scenarios. I’m a mom of three children so I know those feelings, but this isn’t going to happen.

Terri

[Anonuk]

Thank you so much for your kind words and reassurance.
So from what you say and other things I have read, there really is no risk of transmission to my son if there was ever any virus on either my hand or, say, a towel as either:
1. It would be too small an amount to infect him
2. The virus dies very quickly (few seconds?) after leaving the genital area
3. It would likely have rubbed off on something else anyway before touching his genitals
4. It would need to be rubbed in quite vigourously to infect someone else and we obviously only touch him quite lightly
5. Up to this point he should have been protected from catching it by my antibodies anyway.

So if this is all correct, I really only need to worry about transmission to my husband through direct genital – genital contact (and luckily he is not bothered anyway) and I can let go of this crazy notion that the virus is somehow going to leap from me and infect all those around me through casual contact if I am ever not covered up?!!

[Terri Warren]

You can let go of this notion, absolutely.
But saying that you will let go and actually letting go can sometimes be two different things. If you continue to struggle with these issues, I do recommend that you consult a cognitive behavioral therapist to help you work on these things. Sometimes post-new baby, our minds can get confused and get stuck on a particular worry. Having professional help can ease the way to getting over this situation.
You are good mom and you want the best for your baby – the best honestly is letting go of this worry.

Best,
Terri

[Anonuk]

Hi, I posted here over a year ago and had managed to very much get my OCD over this issue under control until recently! I was diagnosed with genital HSV 15 years ago after a classic first outbreak (only diagnosed visually, not tested) but as far as I was concerned had no further outbreaks and didn’t think about it again until 2 years ago when I was pregnant with my son and read about the possible complications in pregnancy. Everything was fine on that front but after 15 years of no outbreaks, over the last 12 months I have had a few symptoms which may or may not be herpes (recurrent sore spot on clitoris and seperate episode of persistent itching without sores). My husband said he wasn’t bothered about catching it as we have been having unprotected sex for 10 years without him showing any signs so we continued to do so. Out of the blue this morning he has noticed some small red bumps along the shaft of his penis which he says aren’t painful and don’t itch at the moment. I am currently experiencing a persistent itch and a small amount of white discharge which could either be a yeast infection or herpes. My main concern is that just before he noticed these spots he was sitting in just his dressing gown after having a shower. Our son was also in just his dressing gown without a nappy on as he has had nappy rash recently and we were letting some air get to his bits. My son had been sitting on my husbands lap for 10 minutes or so watching tv. My husband is adamant that there was no direct contact but I can’t help but worry that my sons genitals may have inadvertently come into contact with these spots if their dressing gowns had slipped a bit while he was sitting there or while he was getting down from his lap, do you think this is a transmission risk?

[Terri Warren]

This is absolutely not a method of transmission. Zero risk.
You don’t mention if you were ever actually tested for herpes. If you’ve not, then it would be a good idea to find out if you actually have herpes and if you do, which type you have.

This is your final post on this subscription. If you have more questions, feel free to renew

Terri

• This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by Terri Warren.

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