Dangers of Coldsores for Newborns (Warning content may disturb)

[briggsy's girl]

i just did a bit of a google search - if the initial infection occurs in the third tri (so birth would be in here) the body doesn't have time to make antibodies against the virus, so nothing to transfer to bubba. initial infection can be up to 21 days before the body is able to fight it into remission - due to the bubba having no immunity, it is possible that the infection became a meningitis type infection...

it's so very sad that something that so many of us take as just a "part of life" is possibly so deadly to a newborn bubba. definitely gives me a question or five to ask the doctors before the Gremlin arrives..

[Inanna]

This is a sad and alarming story... Fly safely little Mira...

Just for some facts and perspective:

Babies have an imprint of protection so to speak frm their mothers. So if a mother has had measles - the baby whilst inutero and whilst breastfeeding will develop a level of immunity. If the virus was contracted during pregnancy obviously this could harm the baby AND if an infection is contracted in the latter stages of pregnancy it MAY not give enough time for this to transfer to protection of the child.

Herpes Simplex is usually a very low risk infection EXCEPT in the immuno suppressed / infants/ elderly.

A person with Herpes simplex should be and IS excluded from maternity/oncology/palliative wards. This virus can be deadly to these people. (sadly as illustrated by this death).

If you have a history of "cold sores" then your baby will be offered that imprint of protection - especially if a baby is breastfed.

If you don't it is wise to keep visitors away from a baby if they have an active HS lesion. Leasha you are right to wash hands and not touch your face or put Jazzy to yours. She is breastfed and has tht protection that a mothr transfers to her baby.

Whilst it is a worry this is a very rare and tragic example of what CAN but mostly doesn't happen generally.

[saslia]

Poor Family.

When DS was born DD had a rash, not a coldsore. on the side of her mouth. We were warned, very nicely, by the midwife to try to avoid DD getting to close to him. (I have coldsores several times a year so I guess DS would have had some form of immunity.) So some midwives are aware of the dangers, which is a good thing, and now I am sure many others are.

[Inanna]

All midwives & nurses are very aware of this danger that is why I find it so odd that this has happened. Just wondering if there is a little more to the story...

[sangie]

We were warned about this at our prenatal classes otherwise I would never have known. Poor family, I can't imagine what they went through.

[*Efjay*]

So I wonder if she was breastfeeding would have she passed on antibodies her body would have been makin to fight the new coldsore & then maybe protected bub?

[Inanna]

No FJ not if she had never had an infection before - just to illustrate.

5 days before her birth she uses a shopping trolley. The person who just parked it had a coldsore - coughed into her hands and then put her hands on the trolley handle. Miras Mama comes along and uses the trolley... Gets an itch on her face and viola - virus is live and has found another source...
This virus incubates in Miras Mama - Mira births her baby and that morning she finds her mouth tight and buring - later on a sore erupts. Her baby is born - Miras mother kisses her and loves her up... The virus has found another host. But this host has no antibodies to protect her - it takes months to build up antibodies sadly Mira doesn't have enough fight in her - and the medical staff didn't cotton on to what was up...

So breastfeeding affords protection but as I said in my previous post ONLY if the mother has prior exposure... Maybe tghere would be a minute amount of conversion occuring but not enough,,,

[Nai]

All midwives & nurses are very aware of this danger that is why I find it so odd that this has happened. Just wondering if there is a little more to the story...

This happened in England and I know they use a lot of agency nurses in the NHS so maybe there isn't the same consistency of knowledge amongst the midwives there?

[boomba]

How scary!
I contracted Hpv 1(cold sores) I think when i was in the second trimester. I was told through a letter sent to me by the scan place and I cried for hours cause I thought DH was cheating lol!
My mum has always had cold sores but I have never had them.I thik tis is where I caught it form? I was not told once that this could cause my baby to die! Why was I not told this!!!!
Myles was about 3 months old I think ( I posted a thread about it) when I got my very first and only cold sore! I was so worried! He has never had one though.

I will be extra extra careful if I get one again!

[Shanti]

I had my first cold sore about 3 yrs ago!! I was so annoyed!! I tell Dh that he must have given it to me lol although he has never had one..... I may have caught the virus years earlier but it only surfaced then iykwim? when stressed etc i can get one....but very rarely.

I'm so glad i have had the virus for years and not just contracting it now. That's scary if you were to get one for the first time during pregnancy!!

Keep in mind though people - you can pass the cold sore virus on to a baby when kissing them before you even get symptoms of a cold sore..... called "asymptomatic shedding" have a read about it..... so no babies are really never safe from the virus, noone is!!
Viruses unfortunately will always be a part of society and majority of people have the virus and don't even know they have it because they never get symptoms.

I did lots of reading on HSV1 when i contracted it years ago. Very interesting reading about it!!

[satya]

I didn't realise it could be deadly but I have taken extra special care whenever DstepD is around Brock and has a cold sore or infection of some sort as I know he just doesn't have the immunity to fight it off.

Off track slightly but one thing I read whilst pregnant is that babies & young kids can throw out massive amounts of infection germs (that's probably the wrong terminology) of whatever they are trying to fight and therefore infect those around them.

I thought it was interesting at the time but it was brought home how true it was when my mum contracted an infection and ended up hospitalised a couple of days after Brock was born. He was put into the special care nursery with an unknown infection on the day of his birth and remained there for 5 days. My mum was present during the labour & afterwards but became very ill later about 48 hours later (& remained in hossy about the same amount of time Brock did). She is undergoing Herceptin treatment for breast cancer so her immunity is not what it should be. It was a very stressful time having both mother & son with unknown infections but thankfully both recovered.

You can never be too careful when it comes to babies & infections.

[Schmickers]

All midwives & nurses are very aware of this danger that is why I find it so odd that this has happened. Just wondering if there is a little more to the story...

Exactly what I was about to post, Deb.I am very suspicious of the quote in this story about most doctors not knowing the risk of an HSV infection in a newborn. It is simply not true - every nurse and doctor I have worked with in paediatrics knows of the dangers...

[jemima]

This is such a sad story.

I have had bouts of terrible coldsores on my face for as long as I can remember. They seem to surface when I am run down or stressed but I wasnt aware that some form of immunity would be transferred to my children through the umbilical cord. I know I had at least one bout of coldsores throughout each of my pregnancies so I am hoping that this means the children wont suffer from them.

I am super careful around the children when I have a coldsore - like I mean over the top washing of hands and I dont let them lie on my pillow, no kisses (which is hard although they know if I have a coldsore not to get too close to it). So far so good because I would hate for them to go through the horrible pain of coldsores.

[indie24]

Sorry to highjack this thread but I am curious. My DD is 8 weeks old. I have never had cold sores but my DH gets them when he is run down. He currently has one. So does this mean he needs to be careful washing his hands and not putting DD near his face while he has them?