The common virus that can wipe away your memories: Women reveal how they were 'left out of their own lives' - unable to recognise their partners, children or homes Nicole, from Brisbon, and Claire, from London, lost their memories Read More: How common viruses can make the body attack the brain By Ellen Coughlan For Mailonline Published: 11:53, 13 June 2024 | Updated: 12:01, 13 June 2024 e-mail View comments Two women who have both suffered from the same common virus have revealed how it wiped away all their memories and left them unable to recognise their families. Nicole Caird, from Brisbane , and Claire Robertson, from London , have told how their minds are wiped clean every few minutes due to the after effects of contracting a simple cold sore virus. Speaking to 60 Minutes Australia , which first aired in 2011, but recently resurfaced on social media, the women explained how large chunks of their memories were wiped out after the cold sore virus herpes attacked their brains, causing viral Encephalitis.
Claire, who worked for 27 years nursing in the NHS, admitted she felt 'left out' of her own life and had 'no sense of belonging to it'. The mother-of-four revealed she felt like she had 'crash landed' into someone else's life after waking up from a coma and not recognising her children, husband or home. In 2010, Nicole spent two and a half weeks in Europe skiing with her husband and two daughters when she contracted the virus.
She developed viral encephalitis, which is an i.
