Genital herpes is an STD that causes sores on the genital area. If a woman is having a genital herpes outbreak when she delivers, several outcomes are possible, depending on when she contracted the infection. Women who acquire genital herpes for the first time near the time of delivery have a 30 to 50 percent chance of passing the infection on to their babies during a vaginal delivery, whether or not they have symptoms. However, women who have had herpes before pregnancy and have a flare-up or silent infection at the time of vaginal delivery have ONLY about a 3 percent chance of infecting their babies in A newborn with herpes may have lasting disabilities like cerebral palsy, mental retardation, seizures, as well as vision and hearing loss, and in the most severe cases, death. While this is frightening, it CAN usually be avoided if a mother gives birth via c-section.