An Irishwoman has revealed that she nearly died after she was bitten by a mosquito on holiday in Dubai last year. 

While thousands of Irish people visit the Middle East city every year without incident, that was not the case for Sharon Bannerton of Bannerton PR.

One morning she woke up and glanced down at her legs. 

“The mosquitos had liked my ankles,” she told Lunchtime Live. 

“I had three or four bites around my ankles. 

“But I scratched them; we know the first rule, don’t touch them. 

“I scratched them enough that I drew blood.” 

Dubai,. Picture by: PA Archive/PA Images.

Ms Bannerton cleaned up the blood and, feeling fine, decided she would head for a swim.

“A few days later, I started feeling fluish, cold, tired, bit of a headache,” she recalled. 

“But at no time was I thinking anything of the bite. 

“I was flying back to Ireland that Thursday, had lunch with friends. 

“I still wasn’t feeling myself; I was very cold and shaky. 

“That night I stayed with my friend Noel and that probably was the decision that saved my life.” 

Hospital

The next morning, Noel found her and she was "completely out of it” and rushed her to hospital. 

It was a decision that would save her life. 

“At that stage, everything started to unravel,” Ms Bannerton said. 

“I was crashing, my organs started to shut down. 

“I ended up having a seizure and I was rushed to A&E. 

“The doctors told me later that if I’d arrived an hour later, I wouldn’t have made it. 

“I was one hour away from dying and I actually had sepsis.” 

Doctors ran a number of tests on her before they noticed the bites around her ankles. 

“It turned out that was the entry point,” Ms Bannerton said. 

“By me scratching [the mosquito bite] and drawing blood on it, I opened it up. 

“Then I allowed bacteria to get into it. 

“They said, probably from going swimming in a swimming pool with these bites open, I let e-coli or some bacteria into my bloodstream. 

“It was a nightmare.” 

The HSE recommends speaking to your GP before you visit a part of the world where mosquitos are common.

Main image: A split of Dubai and a mosquito. Pictures by: Pixabay.com and Alamy.com.