The incidence of neonatal herpes in the Netherlands

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The incidence of neonatal herpes in the Netherlands

Poeran VJJ¹, Wildschut HIJ², Gaytant MA³, Galama JMD⁴, Steegers EAP², van der Meijden WI⁵
1 Medical student, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2 Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
3 Internal Medicine, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
4 Medical Microbiology, University Medical Centre St. Radboud, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
5 Dermatology & Venereology, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Objective. Retrospective study of the incidence of neonatal herpes in the Netherlands between 1999 and 2005.

Design. Inventory questionnaire survey.

Methods. Questionnaires were sent to all virological laboratories in the Netherlands, as well as to the gynaecological and paediatric departments of every university hospital and half of the general hospitals. The questionnaires concerned the incidence of proven cases of neonatal herpes, the numbers of caesarean sections for the prevention of neonatal herpes and the numbers of pregnant women with genital herpes. Based on these data the incidence of neonatal herpes infections in the Netherlands could be estimated.

Results. Microbiologists reported a total of 33 cases of neonatal herpes in the period 1999-2005. From this we estimated an incidence of 3.2 cases of neonatal herpes per 100,000 live births. The estimated annual numbers of pregnant women with genital herpes ranged from 199 to 238. During the study period an estimated number of 64 caesarean sections were performed to prevent neonatal herpes, i.e., about 9 per year.

Conclusions. In the Netherlands neonatal herpes is still a very rare condition. With an estimated incidence of 3.2 per 100,000 live births in the period 1999-2005, the incidence of neonatal herpes hardly differed from those estimated during previous study periods (1981-1998), ranging from 2.0 to 2.9 per 100.000 live births. Based on the continuing low incidence there seems no need to revise the current, rather expectative, Dutch guidelines.

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Last Updated : 04/12/2007 13:39:35