If a woman has genital herpes and gets pregnant will her baby be mentally damaged?

Probably Not: The real concern is if the lesions are present when you go into labor you probably need a c-sections. Initial herpes infection during early stages might cause a problem. You physician can do a test to determine if you were exposed before or it is new..Since the herpes infection is already present, the baby would not be mentally damaged by the herpes infection.

Manageable risks: If a mother delivers vaginally with her first genital outbreak, there is ~30% risk the baby could get it and have a terrible illness. If a recurrent outbreak, this drops to ~4% but suppression of outbreaks or c-section delivery before the membranes are open 4 hours can cancel the risk. Rarely, some women shed herpes without an outbreak and could pass it , baby sick around 2 wks.