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A COUPLE WHOSE infant daughter died from a cold sore infection have renewed calls for a policy change and greater awareness of the virus after a Coroner’s verdict found that she died after contracting the virus in hospital.
Eibhlín Wills was 12 days old when she died from the common cold sore virus in December 2015.
Today at the Coroner’s Court, Dr Myra Cullinane recorded a verdict of “death due to a healthcare acquired infection” at an inquest into Wills’ death.
Her parents, John and Louise – who have set up a website in Eibhlín’s memory – have been campaigning for neonatal herpes to become a notifiable disease in this country since her death.
The coroner today recommended this be done and has said that she will bring it to attention of the Minister for Health Simon Harris.
“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 today.
Today’s verdict gives us the opportunity to again warn the public, and especially the families of newborns and those caring for them, of the potential danger of the common cold sore virus.
‘Lack of information’
There are two types of Human Herpes virus.
The first, HSV-1, causes ‘common’ cold sores which appear on the face, generally around the lips or nostril.
HSV-2 is more commonly associated with painful blisters or ulcers in, or around, the genital area.
It is estimated that 3.7 billion people worldwide are currently infected with HSV-1.
Common symptoms of both types of the virus include the onset of tingling discomfort followed by development of painful blisters or ulcers at the site of infection which frequently flare up in times of stress.
People may also carry this virus yet never show symptoms.
The virus is spread by direct contact with a skin lesion, saliva or genital secretions and can be spread from person to person whether symptoms are present or not.
It is most likely to spread during an active outbreak and the most common means of transmission include kissing, genital contact or direct contact with another infected site.
Neonatal HSV can – as in Eibhlín’s case – be fatal. In 85% of cases, it’s transferred from the mother to the baby during delivery.
Following today’s verdict, Eibhlín’s parents are calling for all maternity units in Ireland to receive factual data on Neonatal HSV and for the virus to be included on the register of notifiable diseases.
This means that all medical practitioners – including clinical directors of diagnostic laboratories – are required to notify the Medical Officer of Health or Director of Public Health.
This information can be used to investigate cases, thus preventing spread of infection and further cases.
Eibhlín’s parents are also calling on the Minister for Health to ensure that the public is made aware of the danger of cold sores coming in direct contact with babies.
“Horrified” at the lack of information available about the virus, Eibhlín’s mother, Louise, said today that “we now want to ensure the general public is aware how lethal a cold sore can be to a newborn baby”.
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A very interesting read!
Excellent, interesting article.
Have you been to the outskirts of Corey lately? Yolanda is alive and well and still spoken.
Gorey, not Corey. And I’m not joking either. The author might find it interesting to visit some people there. Look for French sounding names in the phone book.
Gorey, not Corey. And I’m not joking either. The author might find it interesting to visit some people there. Look for French sounding names in the phone book.
RTE had a documentary on Yola a couple of years ago, here’s the link http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/radio-documentary-yola-language-wexford.html
Hi michael i’m interested in your comment that yola is still spoken in gorey as I know a group of our settlers spoke a sub dialect in that area, are you certain it is still spoken there?
Are you kidding. Their word for “Women” was “Moans”?? I can’t see that re-entering common parlance
You mean thats a queern interesting read.
Ah sure that’s deadly deash..
Well yola, which I originally read as YOLO, reads like Afrikaans.
G’wan ya Baldoon!
It reads nowhere near Afrikaans. Ek weet omdat ek praat en lees dit. .
Radio 1 made a very good documentary on Yola. As far as I know it’s one of the Curious Ear documentaries and it’s available on the Rte website
Explains the odd way of saying words in wexford
especially the emphasis on the last word which is a point of pride in the areas south of wexford town
I still find it hard to spell many words because the idosyncratic way words are pronunced in the region
I see you were named in Yola…
Fascinating! Would love to hear more about Fingalian!!
Here ya go. Thought there would be more Norse in it given the Viking influence but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Just shows you how much the home countries of the British Isles are intertwined with each other.
Some of the Yola words look familiar – ‘truckle’ and ‘besom’ for example. A besom was a brush and a truckle was a small bed as far as I can recall. Fascinating dialects and a great article from Know Thy Place !
Fingallian … still exists today im sure … ma wheres me fcking dole card
sure tis a language like ulster scots is a language
Yola is seemingly very much alive with the youths of today. Oh, sorry, that’s YOLO….
Really interesting read!!
Surely we require compulsory education of our young in these ancient languages in case they out?
Old English for loyalists is priques
I’ve been studying Dutch for more than a year now and it is remarkable to pick out some of the similarities in Yola.
Frisian is worth a quick glance for comparison. Don’t think is spoken any longer but reads like a halfway tongue between Nederlands and English.
http://homepage.eircom.net/~yolawexford/aboutyola.htm
link to yola park in wexford
high quality acurate map there
That song about the hurling match just sounded beautiful…
Yola sounds very similar to the west country dialect of England, heard in Somerset and Devon.
I grew up in Fingal. Many of the people there were of Norse descent, and proud of it. I would hope that there would be an article on old Fingallian.
Luro ….way to go!
Sounds like Welsh to me
hey everybody I am a native of forth and bargy and can understand yola well. I have an old document written in yola which I translated thats on my yola language facebook page if anyone wants to have a look. The document states that the language was brought over by settlers from heege in west friesland who intermingled with settlers from hogham in kent and with settlers from somerset. It was written by a native yola speaker from the Kilrane area of co. Wexford in the 1800′s just before the language was replaced with modern English.
hey everybody I am a native of forth and bargy and can speak, write and read yola. I have an old document written in yola which I translated thats on my yola language facebook page if anyone wants to have a look. The document states that the language was brought over by settlers from heege in west friesland who intermingled with settlers from hogham in kent and with settlers from somerset. It was written by a native yola speaker from the Kilrane area of co. Wexford in the 1800′s just before the language was replaced with modern English.
Fow y’arthe Ivery óán? yith unnerstóáne thee dhicke, hav óa lúke adh mee yólaw taulké paage
hi if you like yola have a look at my facebook yola language page, theres plenty of rare poems and documents in yola.. if you have any yola yourself talk in yola as I can speak it too.. thanks
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Yola-Language/1582035255363825
i’ve also made a yola language dictionary and I am starting a memrise course if anyone wants to learn the language
have your say