Herpes simplex mastitis: A rare complication of paediatric orolabial herpes

Abstract

Herpes simplex virus is a highly contagious virus belonging to the Herpesviridae family. The infection is primarily transmitted through direct mucocutaneous contact with either oral or genital lesions of an infected individual. The transmission of virus from mother to child is well known and mostly occur during the delivery when the neonate's skin is exposed to either mother's vaginal secretions or to the active herpetic lesions on the genital tract. The transmission of infection in the reverse order (i.e. from the child to mother) has been rarely reported in literature. Herein, we report the bilateral occurrence of herpetic breast infection in a lactating mother who acquired it from oro-labial herpes infection in her daughter.