Australian woman discovers she had herpes after finding a small mark on her forehead: Taneesha

A young woman has issued a warning to all Aussies after a ‘small mark’ on her forehead grew into a huge cold sore caused by the herpes virus she picked up at a music festival. 

Taneesha, from Melbourne, developed a ‘massive painful scab’ that left her unable to eat or drink in hospital for five days after attending Falls Festival at 18.

Doctors originally thought her growing wound was sunburn and sent her home from the ER, but she became so ill she ended up bed-bound and suffering cold sweats.

Taneesha, now 23, is telling her story to raise awareness about the virus and urges people to seek medical assistance as soon as possible if they develop the same symptoms. 

Type one of the Herpes simplex virus (HSV), known as herpes, is typically transmitted by oral-to-oral contact; type two is mainly sexually transmitted and causes genital herpes. 

Before and after: Doctors originally though that the then 18 year old’s wound was sunburn and sent her home from the ER. The wound became progressively worse and turned out to be a huge cold sore caused by herpes

‘So five years ago I finished school and I went to Falls, and when I got home I was so sick,’ Taneesha said on TikTok. 

‘I couldn’t keep any food down, I couldn’t keep any water down. I couldn’t sleep because I was having cold sweats.’

She explained that she went to the emergency department but was sent home as they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her.

‘I just had what looked like sunburn on my forehead, it started off not even that bad, the doctors told me to put some tea tree on it, saying “it’s probably just a little infection from sunburn or something”.

The young woman revealed that within a couple of days the wound had gotten progressively worse and began to scab.

‘I remember going to the pharmacist and she was like “OMG are you okay did you fall over?”

Taneesha became so ill she ended up being bed bound in hospital for almost a week. She is now telling her story to raise awareness about the little-known issue

‘I was so embarrassed,’ Taneesha admitted.

When the cut kept getting worse she visited her doctor who thought it may be a staph infection, however a swab proved the theory wrong and the young woman was rushed to hospital to find an answer.

‘I ended up in the hospital with it because I was so sick and I ended up being there for five days,’ she said.

The doctors discovered that alongside the wound she had been suffering with glandular fever, which is why she felt so ill.

They still couldn’t figure out what the cut was and thought it may have been shingles but tests came back negative, after five days of hospital tests they discovered it was herpes.

Doctors first though the wound was sunburn, then speculated it could be a staph infection or shingles. They still aren’t sure exactly how Taneesha picked herpes up, but said it may have been from simply brushing off an infected person in the crowd as her immunity was very low at the time

‘Specialists said that herpes and shingles are from the same family so they can behave in similar manners,’ Taneesha explained.

‘Basically it was a huge cold sore on my face.’

Doctors still aren’t sure exactly how she picked it up, but said it may have been from simply brushing against an infected person in the crowd as her immunity was very low at the time.

She revealed that a big worry was that the wound might scar, however, after it was treated correctly it healed quickly. 

‘It did take a lot of time but there’s not really any noticeable scarring left,’ Taneesha said.