An Irish couple’s baby has passed away from contracting the cold sore virus, just 12 days after she was born.
Though she did not initially display any symptoms and still had a healthy appetite, her parents were horrified to witness her colour suddenly change as she went limp. When she was rushed to the hospital, she was pronounced dead.
The New Zealand Herald reports Eibhlin Wills was struck by a particularly devastating version of the Herpes Simplex Virus known as Disseminated Neonatal Herpes Simplex Virus 1. Usually, 90 per cent of these infections in babies come from the mother, however when her mother was tested she did not come up positive.
It was later discovered that she had contracted the virus from the hospital.
According to information approved by the Baby Centre Australia Medical Advisory Board, this is a very rare occurrence in a baby so young, as babies are usually immune to the herpes virus for the first six months from antibodies received from the mother. However babies can still be susceptible to contracting the virus from others by being kissed.
Eibhlin’s father has created a video telling the story from his perspective to help other parents prevent this from happening to their child.
