Broke-hearted parents warn that a virus has killed their newborn son

A brave family shared the heartbreaking moment where he lost his newborn son because of a deadly virus and hopes that it will save the lives of other babies.

Denise and Mat Brajkovic of Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains lost their baby, Julian, six days old, to a rare enterovirus.

His death came just two days after his mother and son had been released from the seemingly healthy Nepean private hospital.

It took only 48 hours for baby Julian to degrade: he was slightly grizzly and was not interested in food but was suffering from severe internal bleeding, liver failure and, ultimately, brain death.

Baby Julian was born with the cytopathogenic human orphan virus, known as Echovirus 9, after having contracted in utero by his mother.

Enteroviruses live in the gastrointestinal tract and spread fecal-oral.

Ms. Brajkovic thinks she got caught in a shopping mall while she was 35 weeks pregnant.

"My symptoms resembled those of the flu, causing severe chills and aches," she wrote on Facebook.

Worried, Ms. Brajkovic went to the hospital for a checkup.

"They did blood tests and urine tests and everything went back to normal," she said.

"The baby was fine. I was discharged and told to rest and take Panadol to control any fever. & # 39;

After a day, she felt better and resumed her preparations to bring the baby Julian into the week.

Neither the couple nor the hospital knew that Echovirus 9 had been transmitted to the baby Julian in utero, screening for enteroviruses being not a common practice.

Enteroviruses are a common cause of illness in adults and are responsible for about one billion infections each year worldwide, the majority of which are asymptomatic.

The Echovirus 9 strain, however, is rare and fatal in neonates who are immunized only if it is transmitted by their mother.

Because the infection was at such a late stage of pregnancy, baby Julian was infected, but did not stay long enough in her mother's womb to benefit from immunity, said Ms. Brajkovic.

Ms. Brajkovik said that if she had heard of Echovirus, she could have chosen to keep Julian in utero longer to give him a chance to develop some resistance.

Instead, he was born – apparently healthy – on July 9th.

After three days, he began to lose interest in the food when the virus began to infect him.

"The symptoms were masked by typical newborn behaviors," Brajkovic said.

"He was a little grizzly and did not really want to eat so much. I asked the nurses and doctors if all was well, and they assured me that it was normal.

"Deep inside me, I did not have a good feeling. He had a little jaundice, they said, but his number of jaundices was low.

On the fourth day, mother and son left the hospital and Ms. Brajkovic was happy to be at home.

Two days later, it was clear that something was wrong with baby Julian.

He became lethargic and did not want to feed himself.

"We knew something was wrong," Brajkovic said.

"We rushed to the urgency of our local hospital and they started working on it, puzzled that nothing they were doing was working.

When the baby showed signs of severe internal bleeding and liver failure, the mother and son were flown to the Westmead Children's Hospital, where the on-call doctor immediately acknowledged Echovirus 9.

"Rarely contracted. Deadly for infants. No cure. No drugs that can save him. These words were incredible to hear, "said Ms. Brajkovic, recounting the terrible event.

& # 39; How could this be? Not nowadays?

The doctors tried everything to save the baby Julian, who fought to stay alive for five hours.

"They worked tirelessly for Julian to try to do everything," said Brajkovic.

"The doctor came to tell us that they had tried everything and that the brain scanner had shown that he had severe bleeding and that he had died of brain. Mat and I then had to make the most unimaginable decision to have our son removed from the survival system. Julian died in our arms a little later.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Nepean Private Hospital and Healthscope, the hospital's parent company, for their feedback, but they have not been able to respond in time for the release.

Ms. Brajkovic said that she had shared her painful and incredibly personal story in order to raise awareness of the danger so that other babies could be saved.

She launched a # 1 campaign to educate the medical community about the dangers of getting enteroviruses later in pregnancy.

The Brajkovics want other people who have lost a baby to get in touch to get an idea of ​​the magnitude of the problem.

"The loss of a baby every two years (what we know only) has not resulted in any research or awareness," she told Daily Mail Australia.

"The pregnant woman is told not to eat crustaceans, soft cheese, drink alcohol or be vaccinated against whooping cough. At no time do they tell you "hey, if you have this type of flu, you could be infected with enterovirus and that kills your baby". They do not test for that, she says.

Ms. Brajkovic also called on women in their third trimester to limit their contacts in public places.

I've contracted [the virus] coming from a mall … wash your hands more often, she says.

Ms. Brajkovic called anyone affected by the virus to contact her by email at [email protected] and posted her article on Facebook.

& # 39; We need you. Baby Julian Brajkovic and all the other babies who died of this evil virus need you, "she wrote.