A toddler was left looking like a giant cold sore and screaming in pain after an infectious disease spiralled dangerously out of control.
Fern Lewis, two, was left covered in sores all over her body after the contagious foot, hand and mouth disease entered her body through scratch marks left from her eczema.
Parents Katie Williams, 32, and Paul Lewis, 26, were horrified with the spread of the disease, which left Fern hospitalised for three days as doctors battled to get the deadly rash under control.
Katie, a sales manager from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, said: To start with we had no idea what it was. Ferns older sister had caught the disease from children at her nursery.
They got in touch to say that it was foot, hand and mouth disease and after a visit to the doctors we were told it wasnt too serious and a course of antibiotics would clear it up.
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A few days later we noticed Fern had the same rash and again presumed it was the same thing and werent too concerned.
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We tried to treat the sores with antiseptic cream and to bring her temperature down with Calpol but it just got worse and worse.
She was crying out in pain and the sores were bleeding from her scratching so hard.
It looked like a giant cold sore all over her body.
Katie was unaware that the easily treatable foot, hand and mouth disease and entered her system causing a condition known as Eczema Herpeticum, which can be fatal if not treated quickly.
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The rare and serious skin infection is caused by the same herpes virus which causes cold sores, spreading quickly throughout the body, and is most common in young children.
Because of the breaks in Ferns skin, it allowed the virus into her body, causing red blisters and a high temperature.
After a visit to the GP, Katie was advised to take Fern to a pediatrician at the Prince Charles Hospital straight away, where doctors battled to get the virus under control.
After hospital staff struggled to get an intravenous line into her small veins, she was given oral antibiotics and anti-viral medicine and a dermatologist later confirmed that it was Eczema Herpeticum.
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Katie said: She was in so much pain, I wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy.
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She was crying so much and they had tried four times to get her on an IV drip but her veins were too small.
She was in agony and it was made worse by not knowing what was wrong.
The virus was brought under control and Fern was able to recover at home with her older sisters, Ellie-Mae, 2, and Brooke, 11.
Doctor Sweta Rai, of the British Association of Dermatologists, said: People with a background history of eczema are always at more risk of contracting the hypers virus associated with cold sores.
The barrier in the skin is often broken down due to eczema, especially with young children, meaning the virus will easily get into their system.
I advise parents I see to keep their children away from those with cold sores or any virus from the herpes family.
Eczema Herpeticum is a medical emergency and anyone with these kinds of symptoms should seek medical help straight away.
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