Fatal dangers of cold sores to newborns

Have also posted this in the Second baby and more forum

I have just been up with one of my girls and came across this group on Facebook Warning pregnant mothers about the fatal dangers of cold sores to newborns and it's been bugging me every since. I had never heard of this condition before. I just felt a strong urge to come post on here 'just in case'. What happened to Charlotte's precious little girl is heart wrenching and I would hate for that to happen to another baby. .

This is her story *Warning tear jerker*

Our baby daughter Mira died on 28th November 2007 from herpes simplex virus 1 - the common cold sore virus. She was just 10 days old.

It is so so rare here in the UK - only 6 babies a year die from this and it is so easily preventable.

I had never had a cold sore before Mira was born, but shortly after her birth I was so exhausted and run down with a throat infection that I developed a tiny cold sore on my bottom lip when she was 3 days old. It disappeared almost overnight and I didn't think anything more of it.

Mira was a beautiful, perfect, healthy baby - but when she was 8 days old she became a bit restless and difficult to feed. We took her to the GP twice, and she was also seen by a midwife and an on-call doctor in the two days before she died. Her symptoms were so non-descript that nobody knew what was making her so poorly. She had a low temperature, her eye was a bit sticky, and she wasn't interested in feeding. She was just so peaceful and sleepy all the time. She had no marks, blemishes or lesions on her, definitely nothing that would have made anyone think that she was being attacked by the cold sore virus - it was just quietly working its way through her little body with no outwardly noticeable signs.

She took a turn for the worse in the evening of 27th November, and we rushed her to hospital, where she stopped breathing. The doctors tried to save her, but by then the virus had overwhelmed her tiny body and they had no idea what had made her so ill. She grew her angel wings at 4.20am on November 28th, 2007 - just 10 short days after she'd made such a long-awaited entrance into the world.

The post mortem results came back as herpes simplex virus 1 - the cold sore virus. Up to 85 per cent of adults have this virus, and it's harmless in adults.

As it was my first ever cold sore, I had no antibodies to pass on to Mira, so her tiny body was unprotected. It was just incredibly bad luck that my first ever infection coincided with the birth, and I unknowingly transmitted the virus to Mira in the first few days of her life.

I read so much when I was pregnant, but had never seen anything at all about the dangers of this type of simple condition. This is why we want to raise awareness and increase public knowledge.

It's too late for Mira, but I just want nobody else to go through the devastation that we went through at losing our beautiful 10 day old daughter, and the pain that we'll carry around in our shattered hearts forever.

Please, just help us by passing this information on to anyone you know who it may help - pregnant women, family members of newborn babies, health professionals (we were surprised at how little was known about this even by some of the top medical experts we have been in contact with since losing Mira).



Sorry for the depressing post, I just really felt like I needed to pass this message along.

Em

Edited by Emiloly

So sad . My thesis was on HSV, and I would say this is an extremely rare case - HSV-2 (the 'other' herpes) has a higher rate of causing disease/death in newborns, and usually in those cases the mother/baby at risk is delivered by C-section to avoid transmission.

So heartbreaking though, you can only imagine how devastating it must be.

So, so sad. Interestingly my m/w warned me of this - even tho DH and I have never had cold sores.

I get cold sores and they are highly contagious the virus gets passed on by contact - ie: usually from someone kissing you.

My Dad gets them too which is probably where I picked them up as its pretty common for parents to pass them onto their children.

I wouldn't think it was a problem when pregnant, its only after delivery. Once you've had a cold sore you have the virus in your system for life.

I was made aware to avoid any sort of contact with my mouth when I have an outbreak of cold sores. I think I learnt it as part of my emergency care training as its something that's very easy to catch.

Such a sad sad story
Its easy to forget that what seems like a minor ailments to adults can be devastating in babies.

omg that is so sad. And very worrying as well as I'm really prone to coldsores. I've had about 6 of them so far during pregnancy. I just have to get the slightest bit run down and *boom* out comes another cold sore. So how do I make sure I don't pass the virus to my wee girl once she arrives if I'm to get another coldsore? I now it is normally transferred by mouth to mouth contact ie kissing so I never kiss my DF ifI have one,and also make sure I wash glasses after having a drink to ensure DF doesn't accidentally use one of my glasses. Do I just have to make sure I don't kiss her or is it something that can be passed on via breastfeeding?

I think my body has become immune to Zovirax. Itused to work but not anymore. I've started using those Compede Coldsore Patches. They are legendary. They heal them up really fast

re the cold sore ..dont they get immunity if you have them when pregnant?

zovirax is a no no during pregnancy too?

Four_eyes wrote: re the cold sore ..dont they get immunity if you have them when pregnant? zovirax is a no no during pregnancy too?

Thats what I thought too... or even in the colostrum in those first few days at least. I think in her case its because she didnt have the antibodies herself, so had none to pass on, whereas someone who HAS had it before, has the antibodies, and they will go through to bubs who has a better chance at fighting it...

Thats just heartbreaking to read, whats worse is its been over 2 years since then and its still so little known!

Eep! I almost wish I'd had a coldsore before now

But it is treatable if you know what to treat for, right?

If the baby had no antibodies against HSV, and the infection was severe enough, I imagine even aniviral medication wouldn't be enough. Often the newborn is left with severe brain damage also (as HSV can cause encephalitis).

That sounds awfully negative, but one thing to know is that 85% of us will have the HSV-1 virus in our bodies, even if we haven't ever had a coldsore. The majority of infections are silent/sub-clinical, so we can be infected without ever knowing it, and also therefore pass on antibodies against the virus, which is a good thing!