4-Year-Old Hospitalized After Innocent Kiss Causes Infection, Mother Warns Other Parents

An Australian mother-of-two issued a warning to other parents after an innocent kiss on her 4-year-old daughter's cheek sent her to the hospital. The child contracted the herpes simplex virus (HSV-1), also known as cold sores.

Last month, Aubree had a pimple on her face, but her mother Jaime Lippold ignored it. Within days, it grew and started to look like a serious wound. She rushed her daughter to a local children's hospital, where doctors said that Aubree had contracted an infection and needed to be hospitalized, 7News reported.

“Aubree had a pimple come up on her face, the pimple scabbed up and came off,” Lippold said. “Throughout the next few days, the wound became bigger and started to show infection. She began getting fevers and acted sick. She stopped eating and wouldn’t really get up off of the couch.”

The first two visits to an urgent care diagnosed the child with impetigo - a skin infection that causes red sores on the face. She was sent home with topical ointment. However, Aubree’s fevers came back and her condition started to deteriorate.

Lippold took her daughter to the children’s hospital, where she was given aggressive medication.

“She spent four days in the pediatric unit there, while we waited for some answers,” she said, adding that she was horrified to know that her child had contracted HSV-1 from her kissing the spot where the pimple was.

“Because I had a cold sore that wasn’t fully healed, and was playing around kissing on my daughter, I passed the virus to her through a tiny pimple on her face,” she said. “This is something that you hear about, but never think would actually happen to you.”

Lippold said that despite the infection starting a month ago, her daughter still has a red mark on her cheek that “will take some time to heal.” But, thankfully, Aubree was back to her “normal silly self,” as per Yahoo News.

To raise awareness and warn other parents of the dangers of HSV, Lippold shared her story on Facebook.

“I am shocked at the reaction on my Facebook post. I figured a few of my friends would share it, but not 38,000 people. I have hundreds of messages from people sharing personal stories or just giving advice. It is insane how many people are hearing about her story,” she said.

In her post, Lippold urged parents not to kiss their babies while having a cold sore.

“Don’t kiss on them when you feel like you have one coming. Don’t kiss on them even if your sore is 'healed.' If the sore is visible at all, it can be passed to someone else,” she wrote, adding that people must research HSV. “Look up all of the facts. Learn about it. People need to be more aware of HSV. Even though it’s so common, not many people are aware of how serious it can get,” she told Yahoo News Australia.