A Bowdoinham woman is receiving medical care after a raccoon that attacked her earlier this week tested positive for rabies.
The woman, who declined to identify herself, was attacked inside her home by the raccoon on Monday, the Times Record reported. The raccoon reportedly wandered in through the sun room of the woman’s house located in the area of Wilderness Lane and Pratt Road.
The woman was bitten on the leg by the animal, before it was killed by Bowdoinham Animal Control Officer Cliff Daigle. The animal was then sent to the state’s rabies testing lab, where it tested positive for the virus, Daigle confirmed on Wednesday.
The animal control officer said he believes that there are two other raccoons in the area that could potentially be rabid. Animals infected with rabies tend to act aggressive, and tend to seek out confrontation.
A person that is bitten by an animal that tests positive for rabies can receive a series of rabies vaccines that typically prevent severe viral infections, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
