Tussle with raccoon prompts precautionary treatment

When Alan House saw the raccoon, he was sure it was rabid. The raccoon attacked a woman's dog Thursday at Anderson Park in Palm Harbor.

"I started kicking it, and I kicked it about three times," House of Pinellas Park said Sunday. "I kicked it off the boardwalk."

The raccoon jumped back on the boardwalk and kept up the attack, while House kept kicking. It bit the woman and her dog, but House thinks it never touched him.

County health department officials want House, 49, to get medical treatment as a precaution. The rabies virus is transmitted through saliva and infects the brain. It is almost always fatal if left untreated.

Even though House says he wasn't bitten or scratched, it's still possible the raccoon could have infected him if it's rabid, said Dr. Julia Gill, an epidemiologist with the county health department.

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