Is Acyclovir safe while pregnant?

[carbear7]

Hello,
I have had HSV1 for about 5 years now.  I don't usually get obs, maybe once or twice a year.  Im currently 34 weeks pregnant and I am worried about passing this onto my baby during delivery.  I know that since I've had it for serveral years that my chances of passing it are low since i pass antibodies to my baby, but I still want to take suppressive medicine.  My concern is that i see conflicting things about the safety of acyclovir while pregnant on the internet, some sites say its safe others say it's not approved by FDA to use while pregnant and so should be avoided.  But why would doctors, including my own, offer it (or Valtrex) as an option if it's not safe?  Oh, also, what is the usually dosage amount that is considered safe while pregnant?  I've seen 400mg 3x a day, but not sure if this amount is ok while pregnant?

Also, one of the doctors i saw (my office has 5 different docs) made it sound unncessarry for me to take suppressive medicine based on the sole fact that its type 1 and not type 2...but i explained to her that my obs are on my genitals and i know i can pass the virus through shredding, but she still seem to not seem too concerned.  Is type 1 less of worry then type 2 when it comes to passing this on to the baby during delivery?  Oh, just an fyi my last ob was last week, i didn't have any visual sores, just really itchy and uncomfortable.
Thanks!!!!

[gracefromHHP]

keep asking questions as you have them :)

congratulations on your pregnancy too!!!!

[carbear7]

Thanks for the info, helps a lot!!! and yes that makes sense about them being similar but different :)

[gracefromHHP]

as long as you don't have an obvious herpes lesion at the time of delivery, the risk of transmitting your hsv1 genital infection to your baby is less than 1%. If you do have an active lesion, the risk is greatly increased so a C section is recommended.

acyclovir and valtrex are both approved for use during pregnancy. their safety is well established and not an issue. the dose for acyclovir for the last month of pregnancy is 400mg 3x/day as you already know.

acyclovir is not the cheaper generic form of valtrex. Valtrex is an acyclovir prodrug which greatly simplified means that you swallow valtrex but your body converts it into acyclovir inside your body. Because of that unique delivery method, you get more active acyclovir in your body so therefore you don't have to take valtrex as often as you do acyclovir. They both work about the same, just you take valtrex less often. So they are similar but not the same.  make sense?

grace

[carbear7]

right now I don't have any Valtrex, i only have Acyclovir, would this also be rated as Category B?  I thought that those two were basically the same thing, just that acyclovir is the cheaper, generic form of valtrex, but i could be wrong...

[Mistakeguy789]

I really prefer grace handle questions dealing with the medicine and pregnancy situation.  Given her time due to painting I am going to give you some info on it.

The FDA states that Valtrex is considered Pregnancy Category B.

Some facts.  HSV-1 genital doesn't shed as often compared to HSV-2.  So there is a less of risk of transmission without lesisions present.  If your provider sees the lesions they can and will do a c-section.  However, its just not that big of a deal when talking about HSV-1 genital.