Fragile preterm infant skin masking clues to a significant infection: If the pattern doesn’t fit, think HSV

An extreme preterm infant born of spontaneous preterm labour with minimal antenatal care was noted on admission to have areas of linear skin scarring and breakage. The infant was initially thought to have very fragile preterm skin. Due to these lesions being out of keeping with the purported gestational age and coupled with a petechial rash, viral infection investigations were sent and yielded a positive result for Herpes simplex
type 1.

Dr Ayanda Madide
Neonatal Registrar
ayanda.madide@nhs.net

Dr Palaniappan Sashikumar
Consultant Neonatologist

Oliver Fisher Neonatal Unit, Medway NHS Foundation Trust, Gillingham

Madide A., Sashikumar P. Fragile preterm infant skin masking clues to a significant infection: If the pattern doesn’t fit, think HSV. Infant 2025; 21(5): 139-41.

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Keywords

neonatal; congenital herpes simplex virus (HSV); preterm skin; ;

Key points

Herpes simplex virus can lead to life threatening complications.
Preterm skin can mask the appearance of HSV skin lesions.

Also published in Infant:

VOLUME 16/ISSUE 6, NOVEMBER 2020

Exposure to noise during neonatal transport and its impact on hearing

Very low birth weight infants and neonatal intensive care unit survivors have a well-recognised increased risk of hearing loss. Neonatal units and especially neonatal transportation are acknowledged as sources of excessive noise. Although noise is well recognised as a cause of hearing loss in adults, there is paucity of data in neonates. In this study we measure the noise level exposure to babies during inter-hospital transfer and assess any associated hearing loss over this period.