A mum who passed on a fatal infection to her newborn baby just by kissing the tot has blasted health bosses for “failing” to warn pregnant women.
Ruth Schofield’s life was torn apart when 11-day-old daughter Jennifer died of herpes simplex virus (HSV) which she passed on after unknowingly contracting the virus during pregnancy.
In the aftermath of Jennifer’s death, 40-year-old Ruth has lobbied the Government for compulsory warnings to be given to pregnant women and for mandatory advice to be put on cold sore cream packaging.
But, as she prepares to mark the seventh anniversary of Jennifer’s short life, Ruth claims nothing has been done and vulnerable infants remain in danger.
She said: “I wrote to the Department of Health and asked for warnings to be added to maternity leaflets and leaflets in GPs’ surgeries.
“I also wanted warnings to be put on cold-sore medication.
“Yet the situation has not changed. It makes me angry.
“We need more awareness. I don’t want my daughter to have died in vain, I want people to realise how dangerous this is.”
An inquest at Lancaster Coroner’s Court heard that during the late stages of pregnancy Ruth developed flu-like symptoms and was prescribed antibiotics.
But there was no time for her body to create antibodies and pass them on to Jennifer in the womb so the baby would be able to fight the notoriously hard-to-detect virus.
Eight days after her birth on November 24, 2006, Jennifer was admitted to Lancaster’s Royal Infirmary because she was unwell.
But her health deteriorated rapidly and she died on December 5.
Ruth said: “It was only afterwards we discovered she’d contracted HSV, which can be passed from mother to baby by contact, including kissing and breastfeeding.”
She added: “My main concern is that when I was pregnant I didn’t know how dangerous HSV was. At the time my partner had cold sores and I never thought anything of it.
“I had never suffered from a cold sore in my life. The reason Jennifer died was that it was my first flare-up and it was in the last month of my pregnancy.”
Public Health England were unavailable for comment.
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