A baby has been left fighting for his life after contracting herpes from a kiss at his christening.
Noah Tindle was just four weeks old when his mum, Ashleigh White, noticed his right eye had become swollen blistered and watery.
21-year-old Ashleigh contacted a health visitor for advice, who reassured her it was likely just a blocked tear duct.
Days later Noah’s condition worsened, and Ashleigh spotted blisters around her baby’s eye. She rushed him to doctors, fearing it could be herpes, a sexually transmitted infection which can be passed on through cold sores.
Ashleigh explained:
“I’d read something on Facebook about another baby having the virus and the blisters looked exactly the same.
What I didn’t realise is that even if you don’t have an active cold sore, you still do carry the virus in your system and saliva, meaning you can never be too careful.”
After a series of tests, doctors confirmed Ashleigh was right to be concerned as Noah had contracted the virus, herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV1).
Doctors told Ashleigh it was likely the newborn had caught the virus through a kiss from an adult, and she quickly attributed it to a christening five days earlier.
She recalled:
“He was only four weeks old. We went to a christening where friends were holding and kissing him – it could have been any of them.”
Now nine months old, little Noah spent 10 weeks in hospital recovering from the outbreak of the virus. Despite a relapse in March this year, he’s currently doing well and will be on the antiviral medication until 2020.
The tot is lucky his mum realised what was wrong so early, or the result could’ve been fatal.
‘We managed to catch it before it could enter his bloodstream. He couldn’t open his eyes for days,’ Ashleigh said.
