A Surgeon Warned People to Never Kiss a Baby. This Is Why.

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2024-11-26 00:30:36

There is a cognitive bias called "the curse of knowledge" (sometimes also called "the curse of expertise"). It happens when you incorrectly assume that everyone knows as much as you do on a given topic.

As a clinical microbiologist, I assumed everyone knew that it was a terrible idea to kiss a newborn baby anywhere on its head.

Dr Karan Raj, an NHS surgeon, recently made a TikTok warning people of the dangers of kissing a baby and judging by the thousands of comments, this was news to many on the social media platform.

Late last year, a UK charity called The Lullaby Trust published the result of a survey which revealed that 54% of new and expectant parents would "let friends and family kiss their newborn baby, unaware of the risk of serious infection".

A baby's immune system is not fully developed when they are born, so their risk of catching a serious infection is much higher.