Do not kiss my baby! A letter from a mother that we should all read
How nice is it really, to kiss newborn babies and to cover children with a thousand kisses?
This habit, in addition to being disrespectful when you are not familiar with the child's parents, can also be very dangerous, especially for a newborn baby.
Unfortunately, most people are not aware of the danger inherent in kissing newborns.
Lucy Kendall, a new English mother, has launched an appeal to raise awareness of the issue after her son contracted neonatal herpes due to a kiss.
The new mother, on her Facebook profile, shared photos of her newborn son in the hospital, where the baby had to stay for 21 days to receive the necessary treatment.
via bebesymas.com
The woman in her post wrote that it all started on the eleventh day of life when the baby stopped taking milk and developed a high fever. Immediately taken to the hospital, the baby was intubated with both an oxygen and feeding tube.
The doctor informed the parents that Oliver had contracted neonatal herpes, a virus that can be transmitted through the kiss of an affected person. It is a virus that continues to be contagious even after the acute phase.
After twenty days, the newborn baby returned home, but for the next six months, he continued his antibiotic therapy with frequent checkups at the hospital. Now no one is allowed to kiss Oliver.
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is highly contagious and causes ulcers and blisters around the mouth or other parts of the face of the person infected, however, there are also are asymptomatic HSV carriers.
Transmission occurs with direct contact with the area affected by herpes or through contact with the saliva of a person with the infection.
So it is very easy to transmit HSV with a simple kiss. This virus can, even if rarely, also be linked to meningitis.
No one is allowed to kiss my baby
Lucy Kendall says that if they had delayed going to the hospital, the story would have ended in a much less fortunate way.
In fact, Herpes simplex for an adult is not serious, but it can be very dangerous for a newborn baby because of a baby's immature immune system. Therefore the infection can spread rapidly and attack vital organs.
Since adults are the main transmission carriers for viruses and bacteria, it is not advisable to kiss newborn babies, and certainly never close to the mouth. Pass the word!
