This case highlights that asymptomatic maternal HSV infection can lead to fatal fetal cardiomyopathy and intrauterine death.
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May warrant HSV testing in unexplained fetal cardiomyopathy; leaves open whether maternal screening prevents stillbirth.
This is a case report of fatal cardiomyopathy in a fetus following maternal intrauterine infection with herpes simplex virus (HSV), despite the mother having no symptoms of an infection. The fetus showed signs of a disseminated infection affecting the heart, brain, lungs, liver, adrenal glands, and skin. HSV cardiomyopathy, characterized by vast necrosis, extensive calcifications, and inflammatory infiltration, was found to be the cause of intrauterine fetal death. To our knowledge, this is a unique report of an asymptomatic maternal nonprimary or recurrent HSV infection that induced a transmission of HSV resulting in extensive and fatal changes in the fetal heart.
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Pahlitzsch et al. (2017) studied this question.
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