A mother ‘thought it was April Idiot’s Day’ when a physician said her baby had contracted herpes in the attention from a kiss.
Michelle Saaiman’s two-year-old Juwan lost his sight when a herpes cold sore began growing in his eye seven months ago.
Complications from the infection saw the kid almost lose his eye entirely and he’s now waiting for a posh eye operation to reserve it.
Health workers consider someone with an lively herpes cold sore of their mouth will need to have kissed Juwan on or around his eye.
Last August, the then 16-month-old developed an apparent eye infection which antibiotic drops weren’t helping.
When the infection got worse, a specialist eventually gave the puzzling diagnosis that Juwan had herpes simplex virus (HSV) in his eye.
Michelle, 36 from Namibia, told Metro: ‘The doctor was telling me there’s a fever blister growing in my child’s cornea.
‘I used to be literally the doctor wondering whether it’s April 1, because I believed it was an April Idiot’s joke.
‘A fever blister is presupposed to be in your lips or in your mouth.
‘I’ve never in my life heard of a fever blister growing on someone’s cornea.’
For weeks doctors struggled to get the fever blister in Juwan’s eye under control and needed to seek the advice of experts in Recent York to obtain the proper medicine.
During that point his parents Michelle and Neels were terrified the herpes would spread to his brain or other eye.
By the point the medication had an effect on the herpes, it was too late to avoid wasting Juwan’s eye.
Michelle said: ‘By that point the herpes just caused a lot damage to his cornea that he essentially just lost all feeling in the attention and he couldn’t see anything. He was completely blind.
‘It meant the brain didn’t recognise the attention anymore and stopped sending signals to the attention.
‘The gel later protecting the attention evaporated and the attention dried out.’
Juwan’s eye began to melt away resulting from this lack of lubrication and a 4 millimeter hole opened up in his eye.
His parents now should battle constant eye infections where the open hole was, and doctors said he was liable to losing his eye completely.
With the intention to save Juwan’s eyes, the parents flew with him to specialists in Cape Town.
There, the 2-year-old underwent amnion graft surgery to heal his cornea, and his eye lids were stitched together.
The Namibian family will return to South Africa in April for the ‘big big operation’ to transfer nerves from his leg to his eye.
If that’s successful he’ll have the ability to get a cornea transport next 12 months to avoid wasting his eye entirely.
Mum-of-three Michelle said: ‘Juwan is such a trooper, he’s really just all the time had a smile on his face. But he was in severe pain.
‘It is just not fair for such a tiny human to undergo all that.’
Juwan’s parents, who don’t carry herpes of their blood, have been left emotionally drained and conflicted by the knowledge the devastating herpes virus was transferred by a kiss.
‘Initially we were really, really offended,’ the attorney said.
‘Each my husband and myself, we were just offended with whoever was so selfish to kiss my child in his face with an lively fever blister.
‘Kisses come from a spot of affection. So whoever gave him this, I’m sure it wasn’t done intentionally or not with any idea to do him harm.
‘It is sort of a grieving process. Why is my poor baby having to undergo this?’
Juvan might be on antivirals for years to return as a way to stop the herpes flaring up.
The ‘astronomical’ cost of medication and flights to South Africa mean the family hope to fundraise to cover the remainder of the treatment.
Once an individual is infected with the herpes simplex virus (HSV), it stays in your body for all times, but will often remain dormant and never cause symptoms.
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