Docs issue warning after dog lick nearly KILLS 70-year-old gran after it poisons her blood
Paramedics found OAP slumped in arm-chair at home
DOCTORS have issued a warning after a woman was left close to death by her dog licking her face.
Paramedics found the 70-year-old slumped in her armchair.
Relatives raised the alarm when she became incoherent over the phone.
Tests revealed she had sepsis, a type of blood poisoning which kills 37,000 Brits a year.
It was caused by a bug found in the mouths of dogs and cats.
The woman, from London, recovered after two weeks in intensive care.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine warned that diseases from animals often go undetected.
It said: “Neither scratch nor bite was established, just licks.”
There have been 13 UK cases of sepsis related to the bug since 1990.
One in four victims dies.