TUESDAY, April 15, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The incidence of neonatal herpes simplex virus (nHSV) infections in the United States in 2019 was 15.7 per 100,000 hospital births, according to a study published online April 14 in Pediatrics.

Matthew Pooser, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues estimated the incidence, costs, and fatality of nHSV in 2019 by assessing a nationally representative sample of U.S. pediatric discharges using data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids’ Inpatient Database. Estimates were generated overall and by sociodemographic factors. Cases were estimated among infants aged 28 days or younger admitted to the hospital.

The researchers identified an estimated 561 nHSV cases in the United States in 2019, for an incidence rate of 15.7 per 100,000 hospital births. The incidence rate was highest in the South (21.3) and among infants born to Black birth parents (27.3). The estimated total cost to the U.S. health care system was $28.9 million. Among infants with nHSV, the case fatality rate was estimated to be 4.6 percent.

“We found an increase in the incidence of nHSV and costs to the health care system compared with past estimates; however, the case fatality rate did not substantially change,” the authors write. “Our findings also highlight racial and geographic disparities.”

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