A toddler nearly died after being infected with herpes from a kiss.
Parker, 16 months, contracted the virus back in August from a kiss from someone who had previously had a cold sore.
Despite developing a rash and blisters all over his body, doctors dismissed the toddler’s symptoms three times, however, his mother Maria O’Neill, 22, from Derry, Northern Ireland, instinctively knew something was wrong and rushed him to A&E.
Parker, who was immediately put on a drip and had to stay in hospital for a week, has largely recovered but has since developed eczema and anaemia as a result of the ordeal.
Ms O’Neill said: ‘The doctor told me that it was from the cold sore virus and that he’d got it by the kiss or the touch of someone with the virus.
‘It could have been fatal if we didn’t catch it in time. I’m so aware now about people cuddling him and kissing him.’
Ms O’Neill has decided to speak out to raise awareness of the dangers of herpes infections in the young.
