I've never understood parents who allow visitors to kiss and touch their newborn babies shortly after delivery. I get that you want all your close family and friends to enjoy your new baby but trust me–that can come at a risky cost! In fact, one heartbroken couple lost their daughter from a virus transmitted by a visitor's kiss. This poor infant apparently contracted a herpes from a cold sore. Who knew something as common as that could kill a newborn?
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Baby Eloise's mother Sarah Pugh and her husband noticed something was off a week after taking their newborn home. They were having problems feeding her and immediately reported them to a midwife who suggested they rush the baby to a hospital.
Doctors discovered that the baby had been infected with the herpes/cold sore virus just days after she was born. They believe that it was most likely passed on by a visitor with a cold sore who kissed baby Eloise.
"We were pretty … I was pretty shocked that a cold sore had done this," Pugh added. But a baby contracting any kind of viral infection is a lot more dangerous than you'd think. "It's dangerous because if the baby picks up the herpes infection, in some babies it will travel to their brain," Obstetrician Dr. Gino Pecoraro told First on 7 News.
The newborn was then airlifted to a hospital where she was put on a machine to help her infected heart and lungs, but unfortunately there were complications that left the child with a staph infection. Shortly after, baby Eloise died and in her mother's arms.
Now Pugh is trying to work with the community to help create awareness of how cold sores can lead to a baby's death. "I possibly couldn't let another family go through the heartache that we went through," she added.
I still can't believe this baby died after being kissed by something as innocuous as a cold sore. It's so devastating! Now you see why I'm so paranoid when it comes to newborns?
Image via Corbis Images
