http://www.cbsatlanta.com/news/24737167/detail.html

Poor kid. How could the cleaning staff let this one get by them? Makes you wonder about the quality of cleaning in some hotel. This one was in downtown Atlanta, so you know it's a fairly big one. The article is short so it should be an easy read.

Aw, poor kid. I feel bad for him for thinking the condom was a balloon.
Don't know how the condom ended up in his hands, but now he has to suffer.

This is inappropriate and I am disgusted by this, how could they let this happen, it is shaming and hurting me to think of the poor child, I did not wish to read that here when it is so upsetting, but thank you, which hotel chain is it, I think we need to write them a letter, let me know and I will do so.

I see a lawsuit coming Unless of course the condom was theirs?

I kinda suspect a lie here. From what I've been reading the herpes virus cannot live outside the body for more than a few minutes. I think maybe a lie to cover abuse. Either way my heart goes out. To the kid, the family not so sure about.

This is one of the saddest things I have read here, there are so many questions about how the condom could have been missed and how the herpes got onto it.

this is a tragic thing and my heart aches for the child and the family,

The person must be found,

and a lawsuit bought quickly

I saw this topic at another board...


That's gross.

It's partly the hotel staff's fault, but it's also the parent's fault for not checking around before they let their child play around in a dirty hotel.

I am so saddened, is there anythign anyone recommends I could take a good dose of to cheer myself up?

fightorace : I think you might be right....

"The herpes virus does not survive outside the body for more than about 10 seconds, and although it can survive for slightly longer in warm, damp conditions (i.e. wet towels), it dies very quickly once exposed to the air. "

From "http://www.herpesonline.org/articles/herpes_simplex_virus.html"

Now, is it possible.... yeah. Especially if the turnover time between people using that room was short... but I find it really hard to believe.

That shiznit is crazy!! First of all, the person who didn't throw away their trash is disgusting. They as adults should know better...and the staff at the hotel that cleaned, definateley cut corners, because if a 4 year old found what they didn't....then maybe the 4 year old should be getting their paychecks!!! As for the parents, SUE THE CRAP OUT OF THAT HOTEL!!!! Their kid now has a lifelong disease, and they should be compensated!! Money and free stays and food for a lifetime! And whoever they choose to bring with them....although (not to be funny, just realistic...) they probably won't be able to take the opposite sex (or same depending what the kid's preference turns out to be) to any hotel without plenty of medication. My best wishes go out to the family, hold ya head....

mrhoodrock : this is like the saddest most disgusting thing, I agree

Regardless of who left it there, the cleaning staff has responsibility for checking areas like under the bed.

But it looks like someone's gonna be in a "load" of trouble for this.

Totts : It's not the hotel chain, just that particular hotel. There are other hotels that have different problems. Next time you get a room at one yourself smell the glasses to see if they've been cleaned with Windex.

Poor kid

I feel terrible for him and his family. Honestly. The hotel should offer some sort of compensation. I mean, after all, it is their fault for not cleaning it up.

Herpes is a vicious horrendous virus that poor child must be in agony, do we know who they are so we can send the family some of our support, maybe they need to raise money for the childs medical treatment and bills, I can only think of the misery and distress this must have caused them and the problems and complications that that child will now suffer from due to the scarring and incidious nature of this vile disease.

Have they done a DNA test on the condom so they can catch this pervert and lock them away for what they have done to the child? The hotel would have records I assume of the last person to have used the room so perhaps the police could do more investigating and find out who the visitior was and then arrest them for this crime.

The manager should ensure that the rooms are cleaned better in the future, I can only imagine again the suffering this has caused. 4 years old and to have a sexually transmitted disease from a condom is the most disgusting thing, has there been an appeal for wittnesses?

[sigh].... the more I'm reading about this incident the less and less likely the story is.

1. Most people have the oral herpes virus and will test positive for it.

2. This is NOT the same as the genital herpes virus. They are different strains.

3. The more I read about herpes the more I hear that it does not survive away from the body for more than a few minutes. There is no way that this kid got oral herpes from a condom.

but they said that the herpes was on a condom, this would make it genital and mean it had come into contact with a persons genitals and maybe a mouth, this is what the poster said and what people are replying too.

The condom was then discovered by a 4 year old and they made some sort of contact with the condom, presumably from touching and then contracted the disease.

This is horrific, I cannot believe that anyone would deny the suffering and pain the child and the family must be in now for having this incident happen to them,

Totts : did you even read the article?!?

"He tested negative for the HIV and the STD, but positive for the herpes. It's the oral herpes," said Jones.

Not the STD but oral herpes.... which means he didn't get it from the condom... which makes sense if you understand that herpes doesn't survive outside the body for more than a few minutes....

He put his mouth to the condom to blow it like a ballon and had his tounge in it, this made him contract he herpes as he had put his tounge in the device where the infected genitals had been previously,

I have done my research 10 minutes outside the body is spurious research in a warm and damp place like the inside of a used condom in a nice warm bed would be perfect conditions perhaps for the disease to muliply, warmth, food and water all are needed with proteins.

Children can also get genital herpes from their own mothers when they are born if the mother has the disease present when they are passed from the placenta to the birth canal where the desease thrives. This child may have had the disease dormant from birth as someone above suggested could be the case we all have it, but also from the contact with the condom,

Thank god they do not have aids, but unlikely unless blood contact is made or with fluids coming into contact with mucous membranes permiable to the disease like through the mouth, genitals and rectum. But this child put it to their lips.

They do not say what the STD was, my understanding is that the condom was present in the room and not a hoax he did contract the disease and got extremely ill.

We cannot deny the child the love and support it deserves and prevent them from being kissed and hugged like they used to do. They could have used dental dams and kissed the child with them however, but this would be horrific to a child.

You have to be sensitive here, this is a child we are talking about, so please so some respect, a child is an extremely precious thing and this child has been abused by the person who left the condom and the hotel for not cleaning the bed. The child is blistered with a disease and scarred and has not received his kiss "in the mouth" that he so rightly deserves.

Lets give our blessings to Atlanta and show some respect and dignity to the family.

If the condom was used for oral it may be possible. But the kid may have had it to begin with and they just blamed the hotel as a story. Though "Jones" sounds like she loves her child a little too much. Just sayin.

It is still possible to give kisses on the cheek or forehead, or elsewhere (my little one likes kisses on the nose), 'until the owie goes away'. Once the active cold sore is healed, a kiss on the mouth won't be an issue. I think it's a little harsh to recoil from a child's kiss.

As for the presence of oral herpes on a condom - it's not that far-fetched. HSV2 is perfectly at home on any mucous membrane, and is sometimes transferred to the genital region through oral sex. (HSV1 can likewise be transmitted to the mouth, so 'oral' and 'genital' are sort of archaic to begin with.) One of the condom-users (male or female) could have contracted HSV2 on their genitals through oral sex, and then 'shed' onto the condom.