A MOTHER and father whose baby died aged 13 days are fighting to raise awareness of fatal herpes infections.
Sarah and James de Malplaquet, from Brighton, founded the Kit Tarka Foundation in memory of their son, Kit, who died from neonatal herpes, or HSV-1, shortly after birth in 2017.
The pair have been working since 2018 to provide expectant parents with information about the infection, after it was revealed that 60 per cent of parents-to-be were unaware that herpes can be fatal to babies, despite seven in ten UK citizens being carriers.
The Kit Tarka Foundation is pushing its message by encouraging the country to “Go Orange” in any way it can from Monday until Sunday, April 24, and share images of their creations via social media.
Sarah said: “Go Orange has become our favourite event of the year, we so enjoy watching all the joyous orange pictures come in and have been so impressed with the creativity.
“Some of the ‘orangeries’ and portraits have been amazing, but we also love how easy it is for anyone, anywhere, to get involved with a quick snap. And the most amazing thing is that so many more people are now aware of the dangers of neonatal herpes.”
The charity is asking schools, workplaces, and individuals to register via the Kit Tarka website to receive the Go Orange starter pack, and to make a voluntary donation.
Participants should use the hashtags #GoOrangeForKit and #NeonatalHerpesAwareness and tagging @KitTarka when posting their photographs.
Go Orange was first launched in 2019, and has become an annual event due to its success – with proceeds going towards vital neonatal herpes research.
James said: "We felt we had a moral obligation to find funding for research and education of healthcare professionals about HSV.
"We hope to prevent more tragedies like Kit's."
The neonatal period refers to the first 28 days of a baby’s life, according to the Kit Tarka website, with herpes being a potentially dangerous infection as the immune system is not resilient at this stage.
In a study published in 2013, it is reported that on average more than one baby dies per week from neonatal herpes in the UK.
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