A loving dog’s lick, sudden collapse, and a 32-week fight that ended in loss of four limbs

In a harrowing medical case, 56-year-old Manjit Sangha from Birmingham, England, has had both hands and both legs amputated following a severe bout of sepsis that doctors believe originated from a seemingly innocuous event, her beloved family dog licking a small cut or scratch on her skin.

In July 2025, Sangha returned home from work feeling unwell. Within 24 hours, her condition deteriorated precipitously. Her husband found her unconscious with icy extremities and blue lips, prompting an urgent ambulance call. She was rushed to New Cross Hospital, admitted to intensive care, and placed in a medically induced coma as doctors struggled to stabilise her condition.



During her hospital stay, Sangha suffered six cardiac arrests and developed multiple life-threatening complications, including pneumonia and gallstones. Despite extensive treatment, her illness progressed to a point where surgeons were forced to amputate both her legs below the knee and both her hands to halt the spread of infection.

Her spleen was also removed. After 32 weeks in hospital, she eventually regained sufficient strength to return home.

Sangha’s condition was diagnosed as sepsis, a serious medical emergency in which the body’s immune response to an infection causes widespread inflammation, low blood pressure, organ dysfunction, and sometimes death. Sepsis can progress to septic shock, marked by dangerously low blood pressure and organ failure, and is estimated to affect millions of people globally each year.

Doctors treating Sangha have suggested that the infection may have started after her dog licked a minor open wound, allowing bacteria from the animal’s saliva to enter her bloodstream. While dog saliva does contain bacteria, some of which can be harmless in animals but cause serious infections in humans, such severe outcomes are extremely rare.

One bacterium associated with infections transmitted from dogs (typically via bites rather than licks) is Capnocytophaga canimorsus, which has been documented in rare cases to cause sepsis and even limb loss or death in humans, particularly in individuals with compromised immune systems or underlying conditions.

Following her discharge, Sangha and her husband launched a GoFundMe campaign and have raised tens of thousands of pounds for advanced prosthetics, rehabilitation, and home modifications to support her recovery and pursuit of independence.

Sangha, formerly a pharmacy worker, has publicly described her ordeal as a stark reminder of how quickly and unexpectedly sepsis can strike, saying it “could happen to anybody.”