The family of a grandmother who contracted rabies had to wear PPE equipment as they watched her die in hospital, an inquest has heard.Â
Yvonne Ford, 59, from Barnsley, died from the disease just four months after being scratched by a stray dog on holiday in Morocco in February 2025.
An inquest in Sheffield has heard how she was admitted to Barnsley Hospital after falling ill, where her condition suddenly deteriorated.
After a psychiatrist suspected rabies she was transferred to an infectious disease unit at Sheffield Royal Hallamshire Hospital where she died on 11 June.
The jury was told that rabies is 100% fatal once the symptoms begin to show.
Her daughter Robyn Thomson told the inquiry how they had to wear gloves, masks, visors and aprons during her mother’s dying moments.
But she said they “held her hand during her final breaths”.
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Rabies is extremely rare in the UK – since 1946 there have been just 26 cases.
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It is transferred through saliva and can result in hydrophobia, the fear of water, causing sufferers to constantly spit.
The inquiry heard how Mrs Ford was spitting out her saliva every five to 10 seconds until she died.
She also refused to drink, despite desperate efforts from her family to hydrate her with a syringe.
In a statement read on behalf of her family, Ms Thomson said: “We are determined that Yvonne’s death will not be without meaning.”
She described her mother as a “loving, active and devoted family woman” who was a “fantastic wife”, a “wonderful mother” and an “exceptional grandmother” to her four grandchildren.
She said it was vital the public are made aware that they must seek urgent medical advice if they are scratched or bitten by an animal abroad to prevent “another family from enduring this trauma, loss and devastation”.
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Mrs Ford was scratched after she “put her leg down and startled” a dog that was lying under her sun lounger on 12 February last year, the inquest heard.
Ms Thomson said: “The scratch was very minor with no evident bleeding.”
On 2 June 2025 she went to Barnsley Hospital with a range of symptoms including hallucinations, disorientation and high levels of anxiety.
She was admitted a day later as her condition deteriorated but doctors struggled to work out what was wrong with her – even suspecting that it could have a mental health cause.
Mrs Ford was later diagnosed with rabies and her family were told “there is no possible recovery and that the only outcome would be fatal”, Ms Thomson said.
“We don’t believe Yvonne was treated with the level of dignity and respect she deserved,” she added.
She told the jury of nine women and two men how they had to watch her deteriorate “in real time without explanation and with growing fear”, calling it “extremely traumatic”.
