All doctors must report cold sore virus in newborns under new law

Doctors will now be obliged to report all cases of the cold sore virus in newborn babies under a new law.

The Medical Officer of Health must now be made aware of all common coldsore (herpes simplex) infections in newborns to allow for control measures to be put in place. Neonatal herpes officially became a notifiable disease today after Minister for Health Simon Harris today signed the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2018 into law. He signed the regulations in the presence of John and Louise Wills, who lost their newborn daughter Eibhlín to complications related to the virus. The little girl was 12 days old when she died in 2015 after contracting the virus in hospital in the days after her birth. Blood tests showed no sign of the virus in her blood when she was three days old but it was found to be present at five days after her birth. Mr and Ms Wills had campaigned to make it obligatory for medical practitioners to report cases of the virus. "For the past three years we have had to live with the unspeakable horror of losing our baby girl to an entirely preventable disease," John Wills said at the inquest into his daughter's death last month. Tweeting today, Minister said the new law was baby Eibhlín's legacy.

Delighted to sign these new regulations into law today in the presence of John and Louise Wills and in the memory of their beautiful daughter, Eibhlín. This is Eibhlín’s legacy https://t.co/B9tyJOcaJ0

— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) December 18, 2018

Coldsores are relatively harmless for adults but can be extremely dangerous for babies due to the herpes virus.