An Ohio woman says she went blind after her cat licked her, transmitting a potentially dangerous infection to the woman.

Janese Walters of Toledo woke up one day and couldn't see out of her left eye, she told WTOL-TV.

'I looked in the mirror and I thought I had pink eye, or something,' Walters said. 'I went to the doctors and they couldn't figure out for some time what it was.'

For more than a month, doctors were baffled by the condition, but ultimately attributed the woman's sudden blindness to one thing: her cat.

Rare: Janese Walters, of Toledo, Ohio (photographed), lost vision in her left eye after her cat licked her, transmitting a rare bacteria that's virtually harmless to cats but potentially dangerous to humans

'They discovered I had something called cat scratch,' she told the station.

Cat-scratch disease is a bacterial infection spread by kittens and cats, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The disease can be transmitted when a cat licks a person's open wound, or scratches or bites a person hard enough to break the skin.

Walters told WTOL that her vision loss is nonreversible.

'It's a big handicap,' Walters said of her condition.

'There are a lot of things you have to do differently.'

Diagnosis: Doctors diagnosed the woman with Cat-scratch disease, a bacterial infection spread by kittens and cats

Experience: Walters (photographed) said her experience has not stopped her from loving and owning pets, but she wants her experience to be a warning to others

She said she knew nothing about the infection before her diagnosis but is lucky the bacteria didn't 'transfer to my other eye.'

Doctors say the infection can be avoided by thorough hand washing after having contact with cats. But, according to the CDC, the rare infection could cause serious complications affecting the brain, eyes, heart, or other internal organs.

University of Toledo doctor Kristopher Brickman said the infection can spread through anything that's exposed to the cat's mouth, like its saliva or even its fur, FOX reports.

Transmitted: The disease can be transmitted when a cat licks a person's open wound, or scratches or bites a person hard enough to break the skin (stock image)

He said 40 percent of cats carry the disease and, according to the CDC, the infection is more likely to occur in people with weakened immune systems and children younger than 5 years old.

Kittens younger than 1 year are more likely to carry the bacteria and to spread it to people.

Walters said her experience has not stopped her from loving and owning pets, but she wants her experience to be a warning to others.