Cold Sores

[mrsbenglish.livejournal.com]

Hi all,
This is not exactly vagina related...in fact it's not at all...but you're all so knowledgeable I figured this was a good place to ask since I'm not sure where else to turn.

So, my sister has a scabbed over cold sore on her lip and she came to visit us today. I saw her kiss my 3 year old daughter on the lips and apparently I looked worried because my sister immediately defended herself and said "It's not contagious any longer, it's been scabbed over for a few days now."

I did some googling and found that she is apparently misinformed because, according to the internet, cold sores are actually contagious as long as they are visible and even sometimes for up to 2 weeks before and after they appear.

This is most worrying to me, not because of my 3 year old, because I know she is bound to catch HSV-1 at some point (however, to my knowledge, my partner and I do not have it), but because I have a 2 week old baby. My sister says she did not kiss the baby on the lips, but she did kiss his head. My 3 year old LOVES her baby brother and smothers him with hugs and kisses (not on the mouth) every morning.

I'm an extra paranoid mama because I recently read an article about how dangerous herpes viruses can be to newborns.

Could you all perhaps ease my mind a bit? What is the likeliness that my 3 year old will catch this and spread it to her brother? Can the baby catch it from kisses on the head? Is the cold sore actually a lot less contagious once it is scabbed over?

Comments

[yumcheesy.livejournal.com]

This is exactly why I hate when people kiss newborn babies (especially on the lips, why?!!), it makes me so MAD! Babies don't have the same immune system and adults can spread all sorts of things to them accidentally :-(

You should have a talk with your sister and anyone else trying to kiss your baby, and set some firm boundaries.
Cold sores are a life-long nightmare, children don't deserve that painful and embarassing torture.

[archangelbeth]

Cold sores are not necessarily a "nightmare" or even "torture." They have a good chance of never showing up again after a while (my spouse thinks he had them as a kid, and has never had an outbreak in the over 20 years I've known him). When they do show up, they can be treated with anti-virals if they're a nuisance. For the most part, cold sores are a nuisance, and uncomfortable, and can be really ugly on the driver's license picture. (I think I had a cold sore -- one a year! -- for 3 years running on the day of my license photo.)

It's just that cold sores can be spread to the genitals, the eyes (and brain), the nose, and if there is a cut in the skin it's not impossible for the virus to get in there. Further, a baby's immune system may be less able to handle the virus (and they don't know not to touch the outbreak site and their eyes!), causing more extensive, painful, and potentially dangerous outbreaks. So it's important to know what turns a nuisance into a bigger nuisance, or a danger.

But my life with cold sores is hardly a nightmare. Even with 3 years of giant-cold-sore showing on my driver's license. And anti-virals rock.

Perspective.

[sweetchild92.livejournal.com]

Mine really go away within a DAY with just a dab of abreva <3

My coldsores have definitely been a lot less tortuous than the acne I've dealt with since middle school (If only I could put something on pimples to clear them in a day *sigh*)

[sweetchild92.livejournal.com]

I definitely wouldn't call my "appear a few times a year" cold sores torture. They can be covered up, but if not, so what? 85% of people also carry HSV-1. It's nothing to be embarrassed about.

And definitely not nightmarish.