Herpes question for Grace

[Goindy]

About 4 years ago my wife and I discovered that one of us brought genital herpes into our relationship when we first met over 20 years ago. From everything I have read it is not uncommon for people to have genital herpes and not realize it for long periods of time. The problem being we had a child 11 years ago. Our child is very healthy and has always been. He had a normal, vaginal birth with no complications. The vaginal birth is our concern. My son has never shown any signs that he has herpes. He recently got a red bump/sore on his buttocks. (it looks a little like the outbreaks that I get) He says it itches. We spend a lot of time outdoors and the bump/sore could be a million things. Of course because his mother and I have herpes we have the added concern that he has contraced the condition from us. I asked if he has ever had bumps on his butt before and he says no. We have been applying anti itch cream and plain hand lotion and the bump/sore is going away.

I have been reading your sight and it appears that if we had known that his mother had herpes they would have checked to see if she had any active liason and if she did not they would have recomended vaginal delivery. Of course we do not know for sure there were no liasons but I would think the nurses and Dr.s would have noticed if there had been and asked.

I also appears that if he had contracted herpes at birth and started showing signs he would have gotten very sick. Which he did not.

Additionaly your answers about spreading herpes by simply touching one another lead me to believe that we could not have given him herpes in our day to day life around our home.

So my question is, could he have contracted herpes during birth and not shown any signs until he is 11 years old? I realize the best way to know if he has herpes is to have him tested by a Dr. Which I will do if you tell me it is possible for him to have contracted herpes at birth and is just know showing signs.

Thanks for your help.

A very concerned Dad

[Goindy]

Thanks.

[Life360_Dave]

Hi, Grace comes and goes but may anwer this later. Was your wife tested for herpes during pregnancy? Is this hsv1 or 2? Bottom line is if your child contracted herpes at birth he would have been very sick. He would not have and adequate immune system or  antibodies to help prevent  the the affects of the disease. But if the wife had herpes at the time, antibodies would be temporarily passed to the baby to aide in not contacting it. If the child was infected with herpes, first symptoms would have appeared in the first 2 weeks of life.