A woman has told how she went blind in one eye after her
cat licked her.
Janese Toledo says she woke up one morning and couldn't see
out of her left eye.
Now, after a month of visiting the doctor, she has finally
been given an explanation for her loss of sight - her cat.
A doctor says Ms. Walters' blindness was caused by a
condition called "cat scratch disease", which occurs when a feline
passes on a bacteria, either through its saliva or fur.
Reliving her nightmare, Ms. Walters, from Toledo, Ohio,
told local news channel WTOL: “I woke up one day and I couldn’t see out of my
left eye.
“I looked in the mirror and I thought I had pink eye or
something.”
Cat scratch disease is caused by the Bartonella henselae
bacteria, which is carried by roughly 40% of felines.
The majority of infected animals do not show symptoms,
according to the Center for Disease Control.
Dr. Kris Brickman, of the University of Toledo's College of
Medicine and Life Sciences, told the media outlet cat scratch disease can
affect a person's eyesight.
In addition, it can “cause some liver problems and can get into
the spinal fluids and create meningitis.”
