13 month old has cold sore should I be worried?

[acaciabluebell]

My 13mo has been really ill over past couple days, she had a continuous high fever of 39.5, calpol not doing anything and temp only brought down slightly by Nurofen! On day 1 and 2 she had a very fast heart rate, shivering, chills, and rapid breathing. We called 111 who said we'd get a call back but they never did, so then contacted GP who gave us an emergency appt, but by then she was doing a bit better as the nurofen had kicked in so GP said she's fine (typical) and that we just need to watch and wait.

Well after 3 full days of fever and illness, her fever has finally come down over the past few hours although she still isn't eating and barely drinking. And now a cold sore has sprouted on her face! Do I need to be more worried? Or is it OK as she's starting to get better? I.e fever is dying down and her heart rate etc is normal again

It’s definitely a cold sore rather than hand foot and mouth?

Have you checked her hands and feet for spots/a rash? Hand foot and mouth is absolutely rife at the moment.

It is fairly likely that the fever was her reaction to getting the cold sore virus for the first time, and it likely won't happen when she gets a cold sore again.

The virus - HSV - is life threatening for babies under 6 months, but not so for older babies and children, so please don't worry.

Something like 80% of people carry HSV in one form or another by the time they reach adulthood and it's not a big deal.

Ah - my advice is for if it is def a cold sore

My daughter had oral herpes when she was 3 years old - she started with a high temperature as well. Check inside her mouth, the top, under her tongue and actually on her tongue. My daughter was so poorly with it, but there is very little that can be done

I hope she feels better soon

This is a picture of my daughter’s tongue at its worst. We were on holiday at the time 5 hours away from home 🤦‍♀️

Hi - yes I check her entire body a few times a day to make sure she's not getting any rash in any part of her body. It's just a cluster of blisters on a corner of her lip. Very classical cold sore appearance. Can this still be HFM? And if so when would the hand and feet spots appear?

FYI my husband has the same illness as her - high fever, cough - we think maybe covid - and he developed a cold sore yesterday and she developed hers today. It must have been passed on several days ago because he has been very careful around her ever since he got ill, not touching her etc.

Please see my reply above, I've added some more details

I'm trying to attach a pic to this thread, sorry it's not super clear

Sorry let me try again!

@Itsonlybridgetagain Poor little girl that looks so sore!! I've noticed my LO's tongue is really white, oddly so, I wasn't sure it it's just milk residue (the only thing she's really tolerating) or not. How long did it take to clear?

Thank you so much! Very reassuring

A first coldsore outbreak can make some people really unwell (this happened to one of my children - but they were much older than yours). Hopefully, any subsequent outbreaks shouldn't be as bad.

Hope she's ok x

1 of my children ended up on morphine in hospital when they were 2yrs old after getting the herpes virus
He got cold sores all over his lips and on the inside of his mouth and couldn’t eat or drink for days
if your husband is feeling poorly as well though chances are it’s a viral thing him and your lo have picked up
if she gets any more sores on her lips maybe contact the gp again
is she drinking as normal?

If it is also your husbands first time having a cold sore it was probably the cold sore virus making him unwell as well. I had a week long fever the first time I got it as an adult (positively confirmed that is what it was because I was in hospital for another reason so they had to test me to find out why I was so unwell)