Enfield pensioner Susan Hughes who moved to Spain killed by sandfly bite

11:10am Friday 2nd December 2011 in Top Stories

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AN Enfield hotelier who moved to Spain with her husband to enjoy a retirement has died after contracting a deadly disease from a sandfly.

Susan Hughes, 67, who moved to Malaga with husband Tony in 2004, died of black fever – a parasitic disease extremely rare in the UK – which she got in August through the saliva of the fly which had bitten her.

After being rushed to hospital, doctors gave her a blood transfusion but were unable to save her. The mother-of-two passed away on September 11.

She developed black blotches on her arms and chest and scabs on the roof of her mouth – typical symptoms of the deadly disease, which is the second-biggest parasitic killer in the world, after malaria.

Mr Hughes said that his wife’s immune system was vulnerable because of a liver transplant she had in 1983 – she had been given just six weeks to live before having the operation.

He said: “They tried everything but she couldn’t fight it because her immune system was low from the liver transplant.

“It’s just a shame we came to Spain for a good life, and yet if we’d stayed in the UK she’d have still been alive.

“She did have a chance to enjoy it and we had a good life together – it’s just a shame it was so short.”

The couple met in Wolverhampton in 1983, just months before she had the liver operation that was to grant her 28 extra years of life.

After the operation the couple moved to Wales and ran a hotel in Llandudno, Wales, until deciding to take early retirement in Spain – spending two years living in a caravan while their house in Malaga was built.

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