Argh! My son has an ob but nothing to culture! (vent) - Herpes Message Board

hsvmom · 03-18-2005, 05:49 PM

This is SO frustrating!!! My son's (5 months) face started looking pimply night before last. No biggie, he tends to get those baby pimples and they clear up within a day or two. By last night he was just looking unusually rosy. This morning he looked rashy. By late morning I could see small ulcers forming. This was within a few hours of his bath, so he had been wet then lotiony. He was playing and drooling so it stayed pretty damp. I called the pedi who was able to see him late afternoon, but by then his skin had dried up. You can still see where the ulcers are, but they aren't "juicy" (for lack of a better adjective there) when the skin dries up.

Since he is less than 6 months old, he is still at risk for developing herpes encephalitis again. The course of treatment is oral acyclovir for 7-10 days for recurrence in the skin, but he can't be started until a culture is performed.

The last time when recurrence was suspected (but probably not truely an ob), he developed two barely raised bumps that were paler than the skin around them where a lesion had been previously. Today he had the same pale bumps all over his scalp in the places where his lesions had been before.

I am pretty sure he is recurring, but I can't do anything about it but wait and see if it blisters or if the ulcer-looking things become culture-able again. ugh! Frustrating!

backpacker · 03-19-2005, 07:05 AM

I am sorry, hsvmom. You always show such a positive attitude, but I know how it hurts like crazy to watch your baby hurt and to worry what will happen next. How does he react to the bumps? And how do you keep him from rubbing them?

Is there a reason that he can't start the acyclovir right away? Does it have some harmful side effects?

I hope he recovers quickly. Good luck.

hsvmom · 03-19-2005, 08:16 AM

They don't seem to bother him much, thank goodness. He is a chubby boy and his baby arms don't quite reach a lot of his head! LOL! And he is still only developing the skills it takes to rub his head anyhow (caught him doing it this morning though). My bigger concern is his baby brother rubbing them. So I don't worry about him fooling with the bumps. I try to keep a cap on him, but he's getting active and doesn't keep it on well anymore. His cheeks look awful though. He gets drool and breakfast all over them and they look even worse, but it doesn't seem to bother him until I have to clean him up. He usually loves getting his face wiped, but I can certainly see why he doesn't like it right now.

Acyclovir is generally VERY safe in children. There were actually a couple of studies published re: cases where children were accidentally administered incedibly high doses and had NO ill effects! But there are some risks associated, kidney problems and lowered nutrifil counts (the white blood cells that fight off bacterial infections). The count should be above 1500. At 1000 they start watching closely, at 500 they stop the meds. He got down to 200, which is why he isn't on it for the sake of suppression like he should be. Also, b/c he drops, they have to do weekly CBCs if he stays on it, which is pretty rough on him (5+ sticks usually

). So they want to be able to document that it's actually an outbreak

Thanks for the encouragement! It still looks like it will get a bit worse before it gets better, but it is temporary. It's just that risk of encephalitis that worreis me...I don't think any of us are ready (or ever will be!) to go through that again.

WHY1 · 03-19-2005, 05:38 PM

i can truely understand none of my children have been diagnosis fear of embaressmant. but at times notice the bumbs and i don't know how to explain to babysitter when he gets his rash or a scape on his nose or the corner of his mouth! will dsmo cream work on the children too?

hsvmom · 03-19-2005, 07:28 PM

I'm not worried about people knowing my boys have herpes. They survived a terrible horrible life threatening disease, and though it means people realize that I probably have genital herpes, I am proud for them to know what fighters I have. But that's just my personal take on it. I am not sure if it works on children. I personally wouldn't try it on mine even if people said it did work. Ethan is at risk for recurrance of herpes encephalitis until he is 6 months old (or maybe even 8.5 months because of his prematurity). With that risk involved, I will gladly give him the acyclovir.

The good news is that since my younger baby didn't have lesions he is not likely to ever have outbreaks. That's one relief!