An STD I didn’t know I had killed my unborn baby… her skin eroded, her brain hemorrhaged and her heart stopped
In a case that has left the medical community stunned, a baby boy lived for less than 24 hours after a ‘silent’ herpes infection, which his mother never knew she had, ravaged his body in the womb.
The details, revealed in a new medical report, tell of an unidentified 28-year-old mother in Japan, with no known history of the virus, whose pregnancy seemed normal until a 26-week scan picked up the first concerning signs.
The lining of her unborn son’s heart was infected, and the organ, surrounded by fluid, was beating too slowly. Doctors admitted the mother for close observation, but the situation rapidly deteriorated.
The virus, later identified as disseminated Neonatal Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), specifically a type called HSV-2, was wreaking havoc, causing brain and liver damage in the unborn child.
Neonatal herpes is a rare but serious condition, affecting an estimated 1,500 newborns in the US each year. HSV-2 invades multiple organ systems like the liver, lungs and brain, killing up to 85 percent of babies affected.
At just 28 weeks, the woman suffered a sudden life-threatening placental abruption in which her placenta separated from the inner wall of the uterus before her son was born.
The medical crisis forced an emergency C-section in a last-chance bid to save the baby.
Even with prompt diagnosis and the immediate administration of powerful antiviral drugs, the disease often proves unstoppable once it has gained a foothold in a baby’s system, leaving medical teams in a desperate race against a relentless infection.
These images from a scan after the baby’s death show how the herpes infection caused catastrophic damage throughout his entire body. A) Bleeding inside the brain’s fluid-filled chambers (ventricles). One chamber is also enlarged. B) Abnormal, dense spots (calcifications) are visible in the walls of the heart’s chambers. C) Widespread, round, dense spots throughout the liver, indicating tissue damage. (D) Heavy, dense areas in both of the small adrenal glands (located on top of the kidneys), showing they were also severely affected
The little boy, weighing just 2lbs, was born in a desperate condition. The virus had degraded the outer layer of his skin, leaving it raw, delicate and painful.
His blood pressure was critically low, and his heart rate remained at a dangerous 60 beats per minute, less than half the normal rate for a newborn.
Doctors gave him strong heart and blood pressure medications, inhaled nitric oxide to help his failing lungs and multiple blood transfusions to restore low blood platelets and giving his blood the ability to clot.
Without it, he was likely to bleed to death.
Seeing his widespread skin sores, they suspected herpes and started antiviral medicine. A post-mortem CT scan provided the final confirmation of the infection’s destructive path.
The post-mortem CT scan revealed multiple areas of overload of calcium in his tissue, a sign of severe, chronic inflammation, throughout the walls of his heart, liver and adrenal glands.
There was bleeding into the fluid-filled spaces, ventricles, within his brain. Specifically, the case report noted the bleeding due to its inability to clot was in the left lateral and third ventricles, confirming a disseminated HSV infection that began in the womb.
The virus was confirmed through tests on the baby’s skin, and blood tests revealed the mother, who had never shown a single symptom, had positive HSV antibodies.
HSV-1 traditionally causes oral herpes, including cold sores or fever blisters on the mouth, but can also cause genital herpes through oral-to-genital contact. HSV-2 typically causes genital herpes, including sores in the genital and anal area.
For most adults, it causes mild or even no symptoms, which is why many people who have it don’t know they are infected.
The unidentified 28-year-old mother had no known history of the herpes virus (stock image)
The leading cause of neonatal herpes is a case in which a baby catches the virus by passing through the birth canal if the mother has an active genital herpes outbreak. This is why doctors often recommend a C-section if a mother has an active outbreak when she goes into labor.
In the unidentified baby’s case, the virus was passed to the baby in the womb, which is estimated to account for just five percent of HSV in newborns. In this very rare instance, the virus crosses the placenta and infects the baby.
This form of transmission in utero is rare in the US primarily because most women of childbearing age already have pre-existing antibodies against HSV from prior exposure, often without knowing it.
These antibodies are passively transferred to the fetus through the placenta, creating a protective ‘shield’ that effectively neutralizes the virus if it attempts to cross from mother to baby during pregnancy.
While the US does not routinely test for herpes, standard prenatal care indirectly minimizes the risk transmission in the womb.
The baby was born with what doctors describe as ‘extensive skin erosions.’ This means large areas of his skin were missing their protective outer layer, leaving raw, moist, and painful open sores all over his body
This is achieved by screening for other STIs to assess overall risk, educating pregnant women to avoid new infections and performing C-sections for active outbreaks at delivery.
The case sheds light on a devastating and under-recognized consequence of intrauterine HSV. According to the baby’s doctors, this is the first documented case of a herpes infection spreading to a baby in the womb that caused such severe cardiac symptoms.
Doctors are now sounding the alarm that the common virus, often considered a minor skin condition, can be a hidden killer in pregnancy.
The authors said: ‘Although HSV is known to cause myocarditis in children and adults, reports of cardiac complications due to intrauterine HSV infection are limited.’
The report warns that while the classic signs of congenital herpes are skin, brain and eye lesions, clinicians must now be vigilant for unexplained fetal heart problems, which could be the only red flag.
In investigation of existing medical literature uncovered nine other similar, tragic cases. In every instance where the herpes infection caused heart complications, the outcome was fatal.
Experts suggest these cases are likely a few of many.
The researchers added: ‘Intrauterine HSV infection can occur in a pregnant woman without any symptoms, and the number of patients may be underreported due to the high rates of abortion or stillbirth.
‘Clinicians should consider intrauterine HSV infection in cases of unexplained fetal bradycardia [low heart rate] or pericardial effusion [a buildup of excess fluid in the the protective, double-layered bag that surrounds the heart].’
Their case was reported in the journal Cureus.
