N.B. woman receives treatment for rabies after being bitten by rat

CTV Atlantic: N.B. woman tested for rabies A New Brunswick woman who was bitten by a rat is now receiving treatment for rabies. CTV's Mike Cameron explains.

A New Brunswick woman has received treatment for rabies after she was bitten by a rat in her barn.

Christine Lannamann says she was putting rat poison around the barn when she was bitten by a rodent she thought was dead.

“I picked it up and it was really heavy, so I was pinching the tail and picked it up,” says Lannaman. “I started to walk down the alleyway and it just comes to, swings around, bites me on the knuckle and scratches my finger.”

Lannaman’s barn is in Waweig, about 20 minutes from St. Andrews. There are three confirmed cases of rabies in the community this year, so Lannaman was ordered treatment for the disease.

“When I went to the hospital, I said to the doctor, ‘Maybe I'm overreacting,’ and he said, ‘Oh no you're not,’” she says. “The needles aren't bad. It's not the scary way it used to be."

The community of Waweig has been the focus of attention in new Brunswick’s two decade long battle with rabies. Thirty cases of rabies have been confirmed in the province through mostly raccoons and skunks.

Lannaman started seeing rats for the first time this summer, but she says that’s not unusual.

"In a farm-type setting there's feed around, there's shelter, there's water. There's all kinds of stuff that (rats) can get into," she says.

Pest control expert Greg Flynn says all neighbours have to get involved in getting rid of rats in rural areas.

"If everybody bands together and works together and keeps their properties in the type of condition it should be, reduces all the food and the entry points and the water sources, the neighbourhood should be able to work together to get rid of a rat problem pretty easily," Flynn says.

Lannaman says the rat problem in southwestern New Brunswick is now beyond local control.

"I think we need some kind of professional intervention,” she says. “I think the province needs to get involved because they are disease carriers."

The Department of Natural Resources tells CTV News the last time rabies was confirmed in a rat in New Brunswick was in the mid-1960s. They also say it is the responsibility of owners to deal with rodents on their properties.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron.