Diagnosis and treatment of herpes simplex infection during pregnancy.
When pregnant women acquire primary herpes simplex genital infections or experience recurrent infections around the time of delivery, the risk of transmitting the disease to their newborns is significant. This perinatal transmission can result in a serious neonatal illness. Issues surrounding screening, treatment, and mode of delivery to prevent perinatal transmission often are confusing and controversial. Nurses delivering care to childbearing women and their newborns must be aware of the current information to give accurate and helpful information and support. Nurses also need to understand the effect this disease has both physiologically and psychosocially on women with primary infections, recurrent infections, and women at risk of acquiring the infection during pregnancy.
Donahue
Deborah Blair
DB
Boston College School of Nursing, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA. donahuda@bc.edu
D000212:Acyclovir / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006561:Herpes Simplex / Q000151:congenital / Q000451:nursing* / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016389:Maternal-Child Nursing; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000451:nursing* / Q000517:prevention & control
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D000212:Acyclovir