A RARE infection resulting from a dog bite cost an Ottawa woman her left arm and both legs, according to a Canadian newspaper.

Christine Caron, 49, a single mother of four, was reportedly playing tug-o-war with her three-year-old Shih Tzu, named Buster, when the dog accidentally "nicked" one of her knuckles while attempting to get a better grip on the rope.

Her three other dogs came over and licked the wound.

"It didn't seem like a big deal," she told the daily Ottawa Citizen.

Days later she fell into a coma, and when she awoke in hospital six weeks later doctors told her they would have to amputate three of her limbs after the infection spread.

The Capnocytophaga canimorsus bacteria responsible for the infection is commonly found in dog saliva, but rarely leads to infection in humans.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, only 200 human cases have been reported worldwide since 1976.

Originally published as Woman loses three limbs to Shih Tzu bite