A six-day-old baby girl born to an Iowa couple had to be rushed to the hospital after displaying symptoms of a herpes infection. Parents tested negative for the disease, so, they believe someone with the infection passed the virus to their daughter through a kiss.
Eleven days, the baby’s mother said doctors are out of ides to save the newborn’s life, so the family is praying and only hoping for a miracle. According to the couple, baby Mariana was diagnosed with meningitis HSV-1, a condition caused by the herpes virus.
Herpes meningitis is usually transmitted through sexual intercourse or during childbirth by an infected mother. None of Mariana’s parents have the virus in their system, so, it is highly likely the baby got the virus from someone infected, who visited her days after she was born and probably kissed her.
The mother noted that people touched the baby, who introduced her hands in the mouth. It is hard to tell how exactly the baby got the virus, but the mother advises other parents not to let strangers kiss their newborns.
Newborn’s Mystery Illness Kills Her
Mariana’s mother delivered her hours after she exchanged vows with her partner. Days later, the newlyweds noticed that there was something wrong with the baby as she seemed fatigued and refused to eat.
They took her to the hospital immediately where doctors unveiled the devastating diagnosis. In a couple of hours, her tiny organs became to fail one by one and she couldn’t breathe.
Doctors had to perform six blood transfusions before her kidneys failed. Mariana was put on dialysis, but when her liver failed too she started having internal bleeding. She was transferred to another hospital where several teams tried to keep her alive. Her mother posted constant updates of the baby’s condition on Facebook.
After 10 days of ordeal baby Mariana died.
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