Toddler's almost blinded & # 39; after catching herpes when he is kissed by a member of his family

A mother warned other parents that her three-year-old son had been "almost blinded" when he contracted herpes after a single kiss.

Hayley Etheridge, 24, first noticed that something was wrong with his son Baylie-Gray after he had a rash on his face and became lethargic.

After taking him to the hospital, doctors told Hayley that his son had contracted the herpes simplex virus HSV-1, which was "dangerously close" to spread to his eyes and dazzle him.

Now, the 24-year-old mother is asking for increased awareness of HSV-1 (also called "oral herpes") after Baylie-Gray and her unborn baby have been exposed to the virus and their lives are at risk.

Hayley recently shared her terrifying social media test, warning other parents about kissing their young children or allowing others to kiss them.

S addressing her followers, she writes:

People hear the word herpes and think that it is badually transmitted and that their baby will be fine, but it is far from being the case.

HSV-1 is highly infectious, it can be transmitted by saliva, skin-to-skin contact and simply by touching an object handled by a person infected with the HSV-1 virus.

Sometimes, when children contract the virus, it can spread from the lips to the gums and mouth and, in more severe cases, it spreads further to the face and eyes. That's what happened to Baylie-Gray.

The virus that is transmitted through saliva and skin-to-skin contact can be extremely dangerous for babies and young children.

Symptoms of oral herpes include painful vesicles or ulcers in and around the mouth, as well as cold sores on the lips. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), HSV-1 – like HSV-2 or "bad herpes" – lasts a lifetime and vesicles or ulcers may recur periodically after the first infection.

Hayley believes that her son caught the virus after being kissed by a family member, although she stated that it was impossible for her to know for sure who had transmitted it.

Speaking to Manchester Evening NewsHayley said she was "shocked" when doctors at the North Manchester General Hospital told her the diagnosis.

The mother said:

I remember sitting and crying while talking to doctors, asking them my questions and getting answers that no mother wants to hear.

They told me that if the virus was transmitted to his eyes, Baylie could become blind – I was absolutely terrified. I did not know that a simple herpes labial virus could be so dangerous for a child.

Hayley's ordeal became even more frightening when the doctors realized that she was pregnant and informed her that she should immediately be treated by the staff, as she could transmit the virus to her future baby if she'd caught him at Baylie-Gray.

The doctors told the mother if she was transmitting HSV-1 to her baby, it could cause blindness and brain damage. She was also warned that this could have fatal consequences and that he could be stillborn.

She explained:

I was sitting there thinking that I have a child in a very serious situation and now I am told that my other baby could die. I have never been so afraid of my life.

Fortunately, her second son, Vito, was born healthy in May 2017 and Baylie, now five, is a blooming child. The virus sometimes lights up in his eldest son, but only when he is weak and exhausted, and "has been hospitalized only twice".

Hayley attributes this to the fact that doctors are so "on the ball" and describe themselves as "one of the luckiest".

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Graduated from a master's degree in audiovisual journalism, she then worked at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy covered news reports while writing reports on the mental health, awareness of cervical cancer screening and Little Mix (for whom she is obsessed flawlessly).