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Can herpes simplex virus caused babby died within 3 to 5 days ?

Recently, i brought my new born baby went to see doctor due to stuffy nose. After treatment from the nose specialist. Everything was fine.

After 4 days he develop a fever and did a lot of blood test and lumbar puncture test, but the doctor couldn't find anything. so they treated my baby with normal antibiotics for 3 days. The fever was down after treatment, but the next day the fever went up again. So they did 2nd round blood test and gave him antiviral medicine because they suspected that my baby gotten herpes simplex type 1. At the same time they also giving him so many type of medicines ( increased blood pressure, antibiotics, morphine,adrenaline,plasma, etc). The stomach bleeding and they also gave some fluid which are helping to cover the fluid lost on the 2nd day

on the 3rd day my baby passed away and the doctors told me that because of the herpes simplex virus spread widely on his blood according to the report ( when the report came out it was too late for doctor treated according what doctor told us)

My question is -
1) Can this virus treated by antiviral if we discover earlier?
2) Can this virus cause people died within 3 to 5 days?
3) is the medicine they gave are overdose for the 3 weeks baby?
4)is too much medicines can cause stomach bleeding?
5) How fast does the PCR test show the result for HSV type 1 ?
6) Can lumbar puncture and blood test detect any virus?  

I hope any professionals, doctors or readers can give me some idea. Million thanks....
19 Responses
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Avatar universal
appreciate for all your answer, thank u so much grace :)
Helpful - 0
101028 tn?1419603004
headache, nausea and abdominal pain are the big 3.   inadequate hydration in infants can also cause kidney issues but when a child is in the hospital being treated, that's not an issue since they have daily lab work done to look at kidney function as well as IV fluids running usually too.  

really I think I've answered about all I can for you at this point. following up with the baby's pediatrician is the best thing at this point for you and your family. It's really hard for me to comment on things since I'm not involved and I've pretty much covered the basics for you.  
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Avatar universal
is it any side effect for antiviral medicine given to babies?
Helpful - 0
101028 tn?1419603004
mom, dad, aunts, uncles, older siblings - anyone could have hsv1 orally and transmit it.
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Avatar universal
she didint have any symptom of genital herpes, my son  only symptom is just 2 rash near his eyes which are very small look like a pimple
can the mother transmitted to him if she has oral herpes before she pregnant or during her pregnancy?
Helpful - 0
101028 tn?1419603004
has she had genital symptoms ever?  the time frame of all of this makes it more likely it was oral transmission after birth.

talk to your child's pediatrician about these concerns too :)
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
if my wife had the virus but she gave birth with ceasarean section, is it still possible she passes the virus to the baby?
Helpful - 0
101028 tn?1419603004
it can be transmitted even when obvious cold sores are not present.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
is herpes simplex transmitted to others just when we have the outbreak of the virus or it also can be transmitted when the virus remain silent inside our body?
Helpful - 0
101028 tn?1419603004
hsv1 is typically transmitted to infants from people kissing them.   You can have hsv1 genitally and transmit it during birth but it's still most commonly transmitted through kisses from friends and family to a child.  Encourage visitors to your  baby not to kiss on the eyes, nose or mouth when they are under a few months of age. Same with you and your spouse.  Also never put babies pacifier or bottle in your mouth as a way of "cleaning" it before giving it to them.  Those simple precautions usually go a very long way.

Thankfully the odds of this happening again to another baby for you are incredibly low.  Most of the people you know probably  have hsv1 orally - it's very common. Most of us go a lifetime without ever knowing someone who had a baby die of herpes  even though they are surrounded by people who are hsv1+.  it really is just very bad luck that it happened to your baby :(

Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
now i feel very scared if let say i have second child and infected by this virus again, that's mean he/she will die cause don't know how to track this virus, can u suggest me what should i do to prevent it?  i feel very helpless now
Helpful - 0
101028 tn?1419603004
no it's not possible to know how long prior he was infected.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
is it possible to know how long does the virus stayed on the body from the lab result?
coz what happen to my baby is 1st test all result was negative, and he did the 2nd test 3 days later which is show that the virus has been spread everywhere at his organ and blood
Helpful - 0
101028 tn?1419603004
culture is still the best way.  usually treatment is started prior to results based on the clinical picture of the baby and other lab results.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi Grace,

So how to detect the virus as early as possible?
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Avatar universal
Thanks Grace
Helpful - 0
101028 tn?1419603004
yes sometimes you get a false negative test result from the lumbar puncture.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi Grace
thanks for your reply,
can i ask u one more question....is it possible that lumbar puncture test and blood test cant detect the HSV?
Helpful - 0
101028 tn?1419603004
so sorry to hear that you lost your child :(     my heart goes out to you and your family.

it's really hard for me to comment much on your situation since I wasn't involved in the care of your child to know details  - I suggest you talk to your doctor more about the whole situation for more details with your questions.  the babies pediatrician would be good for this information.   I do truly understand wanting answers to explain what happened so  I can provide you with some basic info so that you are prepared to better ask questions to the doctor as well as hopefully understand what you are being told better.

yes, herpes can be fatal in newborns unfortunately. They do not have a working immune system so while you and I can contract hsv1 orally, feel sick and end up with a cold sore, their bodies can easily be overwhelmed with the infection and it also can get the chance to go systemic as we refer to it - in other words, the infection can literally infect most of their body ( it gets into the blood stream and goes throughout the body ).  Prompt treatment can help but even that doesn't always work unfortunately. the virus can work very fast and by the time you start to realize that they are sick, it's often too late sometimes.   The symptoms of herpes infections are very similar to the common cold and other common viral infections initially.

   The doses of acyclovir we give to newborns are very effective and we calculate the dose based on their weight so that we don't overdose them.  they work best when started very early into things and often in babies under 1 month of age, we automatically start them to err on the side of caution while waiting for test results.  They are so safe that we feel very confident doing this with babies that small.  could the acyclovir have caused the infants stomach to bleed?  Likely that was a combination of things - the stress of severe illness on the baby as well as changes the body goes through as it gets sicker and sicker.   No way for me to know for sure but though are potentially why that occurred.

How fast you get test results back depends on many things.  if the lab has the equipment to run the test at the hospital, the pcr results on body fluids ( like swabbing the eyes and also the fluid from the lumbar puncture ) can be back in a matter of hours. If they have to send it out elsewhere, it can take up to a week easily :(    There are changes in the csf that can be detected from the lumbar puncture in the basic lab work up that is done in it that are suggestive of possible viral/herpes infection that we use as a reason to start treating for herpes in newborns even before we get confirmation of herpes infection back from the lab.  

I hope that information is helpful somewhat to you and your family as you look for answers as to why.

grace
Helpful - 0
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