Whether you know it or not, you very well may be carrying the Herpes Simplex Virus-1, also known as HSV-1. According to the World Health Organization, 67 percent of people carry the virus, though many never show any symptoms throughout the duration of their lives.
Whether the virus goes unnoticed or reveals itself in the form of a cold sore, it is generally completely harmless to adults. For babies, however, coming into contact with HSV-1 can be deadly, as Jeff Gober knows all too well.
While his baby girl Mallory was never kissed on the mouth or in contact with someone who had an active cold sore, she still suffered a slow and painful death from HSV-1, likely because she was held or touched by someone carrying the virus who didn’t properly wash his/her hands.
While Jeff has remained largely silent since the death of his baby girl, he’s now sharing his family’s grievous experience with the world, in hopes that it can save a life.
“If any good can come from her passing and prevent someone else from experiencing the heartache, then I would be remiss not to make an effort,” Jeff wrote in a viral Facebook post that has now been shared over 275,000 times.
Read his post in full below, and be sure to share it with your own friends on Facebook:
“I’ve been pretty silent since Mallory’s death. It’s taken me over a month now to write this, but if any good can come from her passing and prevent someone else from experiencing the heartache, then I would be remiss not to make an effort.
If you have a new baby, or will be around a new baby, wash your hands. A lot.
If anyone wants to hold your baby, make sure they wash their hands first. Then make them do it again.HSV-1, most commonly known as the virus behind cold sores, is a form of herpes (Herpes Simplex Virus-1). It is EXTREMELY common, and the World Health Organization estimates that 67% of all humans on Earth are infected (http://www.who.int/
mediacentre/factsheets/ fs400/en/#hsv1). To make things worse, many people who are infected will never show symptoms in their lifetime and probably don’t even know they have it. For newborns, it is more than likely fatal, as was the case for Mallory.
You might think it should have been easy to diagnose. Surely someone with an oozing cold sore kissed her on the mouth, right? Mallory was never in contact with a person who had an active cold sore. Never. Nobody ever kissed her on the mouth. In spite of that, she caught HSV-1 within her first week of life and we had to watch her die slowly for nearly 2 weeks. Mallory could not keep her hands out of her mouth and eyes and she was constantly sucking on her fingers (see attached picture), so it’s almost certain that the virus got onto her hands at some point. It is possible to be contagious even without an active cold sore.
She had no symptoms beyond a high fever for most of the first week, and by the time blisters showed up it was probably too late for the antivirals to be effective. Considering that more than half the world has the cold sore virus, we don’t understand why so few infants die from the disease or why our beautiful daughter Mallory was the unlucky statistic, but that’s the way the world works I suppose.
Please, if you’re reading this, be extra diligent about washing your hands around newborns. Statistically speaking, you’re probably infected with HSV-1 whether you know it or not.”
