Woman In London Contracts Cowpox After Petting Her Cat And Touching Her Eye

A woman in London has contracted cowpox from her pet cat.

The 28-year-old woman's eye had “purulent discharge” and swelling which persisted despite treatment with a number of antibiotics, according to the report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Her symptoms were getting worse — she had developed orbital cellulitis, or an infection of the fat and muscles around the eye; and this infection was causing the tissue in her eye to necrotize, or die.

Dr. Miles Kiernan, an ophthalmologist at Royal Free Hospital in London who treated the patient, told LiveScience it's believed she contracted it after petting her cat and touching her eye.

Worried that she could lose her eye, her doctor recommended emergency surgery to remove any dead cells from the area.

“Our concern was that the infection would permanently damage her vision, or possibly spread beyond the orbit [eye socket],” said Kiernan.

The doctors were told two weeks after the woman's eye swelled, her pet cat developed lesions on its paws and head.

In the journal, the researchers wrote: “Polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR) tests of scrapings from the lesions taken by a veterinarian were positive for orthopoxvirus, and a PCR test of a conjunctival swab from the patient was also positive for orthopoxvirus. Genome sequencing confirmed a diagnosis of cowpox.”

Once doctors determined the woman had it, they gave her different medication including steroids.

Six months later doctors noted her vision was 20/20 in the eye but she still had some droopiness in the eyelid along with restriction in the eye’s movement.

Kiernan added that he and his colleagues have never seen a case of cowpox infection of the eye before, and few cases have ever been reported in the medical literature.

Cowpox is a zoonotic disease that is similar to smallpox but far less severe.

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