A US mother is warning parents not to kiss their babies after a so-called 'kiss of death' is believed to have killed her newborn.
Aliza Rose Friend was eight days old when she died after contracting the HSV-1 virus,commonly known as neonatal herpes,
after being kissed or touched with unwashed hands.
Doctors told her mother Abigail Friend, 19, that there was no way of knowing who gave it to her, 7 News reports.
Now the young mum is speaking out, asking other parents to wash their hands and not to kiss their newborns or let anyone else do that.
"Aliza was healthy for a day and a half. It took the virus six-and-a-half days to completely destroy her body," Ms Friend wrote in a heartbreaking Facebook post.
She says some family and close friends came to visit Aliza when she was born.
"There's no way to ever know who gave it to her because it's such a common virus. It could have been anybody.
"It could have been a doctor for all I know."
Doctors ruled Aliza was brain-dead after the virus "ate away at her brain".
Ms Friend says she'll continue to tell the "gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, soul-shattering story" of her lost daughter to protect other parents from the heart ache she suffered.
Newshub.
