'I thought itchy eye was due to my cold - but it was killer brain infection'

Sophie Bell, 17, had been suffering from cold-like symptoms and daily headaches for around a month when she was rushed to hospital with a rare, deadly infection

A teen who found she kept rubbing her eye was horrified when she learned it was a killer infection triggered by a cold - and needed brain surgery.

Sophie Bell had been suffering from a cold and daily headaches for around a month in October, which left her bedbound in debilitating pain.

The 17-year-old, who worked as a pharmacy assistant, believed she was simply under the weather , until she woke up on October 29 with a swollen, bulging left eye.

Sophie's mum, Carol Wright, believed her daughter had been rubbing her eye so much due to the persistent headaches that it had caused an infection.

But after taking antibiotics