Woman killed from lethal bacteria after cat licked her

A grandmother spent nine days in a coma before dying after her pet cat licked her, prompting a warning to other owners from doctors.

Doctors are warning people about the dangers of cat saliva after a woman died from her pet licking her.

Infectious disease specialists say they are seeing at least one person a week in Melbourne hospitals because of the lethal bacteria in cat saliva.

They warn it can cause devastating complications such as heart failure and even blindness.

One Melbourne family has been left heartbroken after they found their 80-year-old grandmother unresponsive in bed with her cat Minty curled up beside her.

While the family want to stay anonymous, they wanted to warn others about the dangers of keeping cats, especially for vulnerable people.

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The woman was taken to Box Hill hospital where she later died. Picture: Norm Oorloff

Minty had scratched the woman before licking her during the night.

“Mum would sleep with the cat and obviously through the night it has licked the wound and it was the saliva going into her bloodstream that has caused the damage,” her daughter told the Herald Sun.

The woman suffered bacterial meningitis and spent nine days in a coma in Box Hill hospital.

Her family said she woke to spent some final moments with them before falling ill and dying a day after being taken off life support.

Austin Health’s director of infectious diseases Lindsay Grayson warned people shouldn’t let their cats lick open wounds.

He said people with weak immune systems should actually avoid the animals all together.

Cats carry several lethal bacteria such as pasteurella, which can cause meningitis, as well as bartonella, which causes the so-called “cat scratch disease”.

“It is a big deal and it is emerging more and more now as an unrecognised cause of heart valve infection, which is obviously fatal if untreated,” Prof Grayson told the newspaper.

“Infections related to cat bites and scratches like this person, we’d get at least one a week where somebody comes into the hospital.

“It is very important that if a cat is biting or scratching you, you mention it to your GP. It immediately triggers a greater concern and a different medical approach to just a routine scratch.”