A British woman is fighting for her life in Australia after getting a rare form of blood poisoning from a stray kitten, it has emerged.
Scarlet Goodrich, from Teignmouth, Devon, is in hospital in Melbourne after being struck down with meningitis and swelling of the brain.
The 22-year-old was working on a fruit farm when she came into contact with the stray cat.
British woman Scarlet Goodrich (pictured) is fighting for her life in Australia after getting a rare form of blood poisoning from a stray kitten, it has emerged
Her friends and family are raising funds to pay for her care and get her back to her home in Britain.
Her uncle Christian Goodrich said: ‘The doctors think she might have picked up this very rare and unusual toxin from a stray kitten she came into contact with while fruit picking on a farm.
‘This has come as such a shock to the family. It’s a very rare and unusual scenario which has baffled the doctors and specialists.
Scarlet Goodrich (pictured), from Teignmouth, Devon, is in hospital in Melbourne after being struck down with meningitis and swelling of the brain
‘She had contracted pneumococcal meningitis as well as mutated strain of toxin plasma. She’s also got acute ADEM which is a swelling of the brain, and last week had to have an emergency operation.
‘She has battled through the meningitis and the toxin, so it is mainly the ADEM which doctors are trying to address.’
Her mother Alethea has flown to be at her daughter’s bedside.