Woman Loses Four Limbs After Infection Linked to Dog Saliva
A horrifying story from England should put the risk of letting your pet lick you into perspective.
Manjit Sangha tragically underwent a quadruple amputation after sepsis. Doctors believe it started when her dog’s saliva entered her body via a small cut.
Manjit spent 32 weeks in the hospital and suffered multiple cardiac arrests during that time.
According to People, on Monday, July 14, 2025, the day started with a walk with their dog, Simba. The family’s GoFundMe page says that her husband found her later slumped on the sofa with blue lips and ice-cold hands and feet.
She was placed in an induced coma on life support while doctors treated septic shock complicated by Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC).
DIC can cause clotting to go haywire, with small clots choking off blood flow to the ends of the body. This is how severe tissue damage occurs.
NDTV reported that surgeons amputated both legs below the knee and both hands, and doctors also removed her spleen during the hospital stay.
Via an interview with the BBC, her husband kept asking how all the damage could happen in less than 24 hours.
The family’s fundraiser says her recovery now depends on prosthetics, physical therapy, and home adaptations. All this from a dog’s lick.
How a lick becomes an infection
Pet owners need to be aware that a dog’s mouth carries bacteria, even when the dog looks perfectly healthy. Most of the time, nothing happens.
According to the CDC, Capnocytophaga germs can make people sick if dog or cat saliva gets into an open wound or sore, and in rare cases, the infection can lead to sepsis.
The CDC states that higher-risk groups include people with weakened immune systems from conditions like cancer, diabetes, or HIV, people without a spleen, and people with alcohol use disorder.
If you live with any of those conditions, treat any bite, scratch, or saliva-to-wound exposure as a reason to call for advice quickly.
As mentioned above, although rare, sepsis is an extreme reaction to infection that can damage organs fast. Information from the CDC shows it’s a medical emergency, so delays can be dangerous.
What signs show up first?
As the United Kingdom’s health service states, early symptoms in adults can include a very high or very low temperature, chills, fast breathing, and a fast heartbeat.
Look out for the following symptoms:
- Fever, shivering, or feeling very cold
- Shortness of breath or breathing very fast
- New confusion or extreme sleepiness
- Fast heart rate
- Severe pain
- Skin that looks pale, blue, or blotchy
If you experience any of the above, call your doctor or urgent care the same day.
Additionally, if a cut that was licked gets red, swollen, painful, or starts draining, or if you develop a fever or feel worse, call emergency services right away if it also matches the symptoms above.
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