Killer cold sore: Baby girl dies after being kissed by mystery person with virus

A newborn baby has died after being kissed by a mystery person with cold sores.

Little Eloise Lampton was born healthily but died just 24 days later after becoming infected with the herpes virus, which proved fatal.

Her devastated parents, Sarah Pugh, 28, and Douglas Lampton, don't even know who unknowingly passed the infection onto their newborn daughter.

Ms Pugh said: "I was devastated to know she was born healthily and then this happened.

"They thought it could have come from me, but I didn't test positive to the disease.

"It was passed on through a cold sore.

"It could have been from anyone."

Eloise was born by cesarean section on November 1 and went home with her parents, who have three other children.

But a week later she started to lose weight and became very ill.

She went into hospital and doctors put her on life support as doctors tried to find out what was causing her illness.

But she lost her hard-fought battle when she contracted a blood infection and later died in the arms of her devastated parents.

Her mum was shocked to discover that it was herpes that had led to her untimely death.

She hopes her daughter's death, in Queensland, Australia, will serve as a warning to others about the danger of the herpes infection to newborns.

Ms Pugh told Mail Online: "Sometimes you don't even know you have a cold sore.

"You never know what's going to happen."