Cultures performed on the mother at delivery, or even the polymerase chain reaction test,will usually take at least several days to show up positive if virus is present, and tests to detect shedding that are performed several days before delivery do not reveal anything about shedding at the time of delivery. The only benefit of performing these tests at delivery is to help guide therapy should the infant become ill; that is, a positive test for herpes may help diagnose the infant’s symptoms as being caused by herpes, and treatment may be started more quickly. A test may show up as positive even before a baby becomes symptomatic, and in that situation herpes medication should be started for the baby right away. Even though the presence of virus on the mother’s test doesn’t necessarily mean that the baby has been infected, it is probably better to be safe. Symptoms indicating that the infant may be infected include lack of appetite, skin lesions like blisters, fever, and sluggishness. These symptoms may take up to a month to develop in an infected infant.
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