Oral herpes (simplex) - I have a recurrence - what effect on my 9 month old?

[venetianred]

I got oral herpes when I was about 20years and was really sick for two weeks. The blisters were on the inside of my mouth and it was so heavily blistered that I couldn't eat at all. The doctor said that every so often I may get a very minor occurrence and occasionally I seem to get tiny sore spots inside my mouth and get a horrible taste that I assume is this reaccurrence.

Anyway, I have just had this happen and also am coming down with a cold and so have been unable to stop coughing and spluttering. It became obvious yesterday that my 4 year old and 9 month old are coming down with my cold, and my 4 year old is complaining of sore spots in her mouth.

I don't understand what effect this may have on them and whether there are any serious worries. Does anyone know what I should do? I am curently staying with my parents and am quite some way from a doctor but will obviously go if I need to. Neither of them have a temperature nor look that sick.

Many thanks.

I would phone NHS 24 and ask them, it's what they're there for! 08454647.

I remember when my DS was about 3 months I refused to visit friends because one of them had a cold-sore, They thought I was mad and being totally PFB, but I looked it up and babies can actually suffer quite badly the first time they catch oral herpes - that's not to say they definitely will though.

If it was me I would be cautious, and seek medical advice.

HTH

Don't kiss your children while you're having an attack. Don't share your cutlery or cups with them (eg by letting them have a taste of your food using your spoon). Don't share flannels or towels (although I would have thought hand towels are OK, so long as you don't dry your mouth with them). Wash your hands regularly. If really worried, wash your towels at a high temperature. I don't see how you could possibly pass it on to them if you did all that! If it were THAT contagious, there wouldn't be a single person in the country that didn't get cold sores. Babies mostly catch it from relatives because they can't resist kissing them, not because it travels through the ether or lives on surfaces they touch or is passed on by their hands.

"If it were THAT contagious, there wouldn't be a single person in the country that didn't get cold sores."

I think I read somewhere that 95% of people have the cold sore virus. The remaining 5% are immune. I don't have time to look it up now to see if that's actually true, but I think it is actually very infectious!

lowrib, you can't become immune unless you've been exposed to the herpes virus, which would mean on the basis of your statistics that 100% of people (I presume you actually mean adults here, and not all people?????) have had herpes simplex type 1 and only 5% of people have cleared it from their bodies and become immune, with the remaining 95% of people having it lying dormant within them waiting to give them coldsores. I'm not sure I believe that the entire adult population has had herpes at some point, but if it really is the case, then a colossal proportion of the people who have the virus but are not immune have nevertheless never had a coldsore in their lives and never will have one. So, I still believe that doing all the things I mentioned will be doing enough to protect your children from infection whilst they are young (bearing in mind they are clearly going to get the virus anyway, on the basis of the statistics...).

Finally got DS to bed so I've got some time to check my (actually not so) wild claims now!

I can't find any figures for the UK, but the following is quoted all over the interweb:

"Cold sores caused by HSV-1 are very common. The American Social Health Association states that anywhere between 50 and 80 percent of people in the United States have oral herpes. By the time this population reaches the age of 50, up to 90 percent will have HSV-1. Most people get HSV-1 when they are children." From this page, among others

The thing is, that most people dismiss oral herpes as nothing, when actually the first time you get it, it can be quite unpleasant and accompanied by a fever, but as this most likely happened when people were a children they don't remember it. For many people the symptoms are very mild indeed, but for a few it can be severe. There was a very sad case of a newborn who died after catching a cold sore last year. I mention it not to scaremonger, but to try to show that cold sores with babies should be taken seriously.

I took it in good humour on the surface when my friends thought I was mad for not going round with a young baby DS, when one of them had a cold sore, but TBO it did annoy me that they didn't take it seriously at all.

As the OP's baby is 9mo, not a newborn, I suspect the risks are extremely small indeed, and doing what you say would be a good idea - if it's a cold sore at all that is! But then neither me nor you (as far as I know) are Drs.

She says they all have a cold, and one has spots in the mouth. It might not even be cold-sore related, there are other things which could cause these symptoms, and IMO it should be checked. I would call NHS direct, it's what they're there for.

We are so lucky to have free health care in this country, it amazes me how often people procrastinate about contacting their Dr or NHS direct when they obviously have something wrong with them! I'm not suggesting you should go to the Dr with every little cold - far from it - but if my DCs had a symptom I wasn't 100% sure about (e.g. cold with spots in mouth) I'd definitely call NHS direct for advice. What harm can it do?

The only other thing I know about herpes is that, whilst it can make you very ill the first time you get it, it is generally not serious, although you don't want the virus to get into your eyes, where it can cause permanent damage (ulcerated cornea), so if your children do get coldsores, to try to make sure they don't touch their coldsores, as they can spread the virus to other parts of their face if they touch a sore with active virus in it. I think it is rare to get herpes in the eyes, though. If it does get anywhere near the eyes, then a visit to a doctor is essential to avoid possible damage.

So, lowrib is right that advice from NHS direct may be a good idea if you think your children already have coldsores.

ps lowrib is also right that spots in the mouth isn't necessarily herpes - there are tonnes of viruses that cause this. Being very careful with hygiene is a good idea in relation to all of them, though. And visiting a doctor or speaking to NHS direct if at all concerned. I'm certainly not a doctor, so my advice is just based on common sense (and having grown up with a doctor and heard the same advice trotted out every day of the year over the telephone for years).

Thanks for all your help and advice. I am out of the UK visiting my parents at the moment and not close to a doctor. Also very tired, as have this cold and have another health problem that is not helping.

It is looking more and more that the sore spots in my daughters mouth are not herpest simplex, and my 9month old son's cold seems to be extremely mild. So after the last 24 hours I am happy that it is extremely unlikely. It is a conversation I will have with the doctor when I get back to the UK, as I realised I was completely unaware of the implications of this on a child. Interestingly, I never get sores outside of my mouth, only inside and therefore they sometimes are similar to 'cold symtoms'.

Many thanks again.
venetian

p.s. Now just have to figure out if bleeding for 3 weeks out of the last 5 means I am hitting early menopause at 43!!!!!! Why does everything go awry on holiday!!!