Woman bedbound after flesh eating parasite leaves her blind

Shereen-Fay Griffin, 38, lost sight in her left eye just under a year ago two days after visiting a swimming pool on August 19.

She believes she contracted the infection – acanthamoeba keratitis – while she was there or perhaps washing her face at home.

The infection is caused by a single-celled organism called acanthameoba that enters the eye and eats through the cornea.

Microscopic, the parasite is common in water and usually found in bodies of water.

Shereen-Fay Griffiths spent months in ‘extreme pain’ after drugs failed to kill a flesh eating parasite in her eye (Image: SWNS)

Shereen, a learning support assistant in a secondary school, said: “I was bed-bound for three weeks and was house-bound for four months. I was off work for a total of five months.

“I have no left vision, which stops me from taking part in activities like football with my students.

“I have dull ache, dryness, itches, soreness and still some light sensitivity as my pupil struggles to dilate because of the scars on the front of my eye.”

Shereen had consulted a GP after experiencing itchiness, soreness and fatigue, following her swim, who referred her to an optician who then referred her to an ophthalmologist.

At Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup on September 1 she was diagnosed with herpes simplex eye infection and given steroids and antibacterial eye drops.

But her symptoms continued to worsen.

Shereen said: “I’ve never in my life even had a cold sore so it was odd to me.

“I had a continuous dull pain in my eye. It didn’t seem right but was manageable with day-to-day life.”

She said she’d had “no follow-up appointment”, her eye was still in pain and her medication was running out. 

She rang the hospital for a few weeks before walking in herself to find out what was going on. She was given additional medication and sent home.

Then, ten weeks after her initial appointment, on November 9, Shereen woke up “in the most excruciating pain” and blind in one eye.

All this time, Shereen’s cornea was being eaten away by the parasite and the scarring left her blind.

By now mistrustful of the NHS, she decided to go to the Wellington Hospital, a private facility in Wellington Place, St John’s Wood, where a doctor told her the steroids had made things worse.

“It was explained to me by the doctors that this rare infection was very resistant to treatment,” she said.

“They said because mine had been strengthened with steroids for 10 weeks it was now super resistant.”

Shereen, who lives in Crayford, Kent, continues to live in pain and has not recovered her vision.

Shereen-Fay Griffiths before a flesh eating parasite blinded her left eye. She will need a cornea transplant to regain her site (Image: SWNS)

Her only chance at recovery lies with a corneal transplant, which may not work, and would need to be repeated if it failed.

A spokesperson for Moorfields Eye Hospital said: “The infection is caused by a microscopic organism called acanthamoeba, which is common in nature and is usually found in bodies of water as well as domestic tap water, swimming pools, hot tubs, soil and air.

“[They] do not generally cause harm to humans, but they can cause a serious eye disease if they infect the cornea.”