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Sun City Center Woman Being Treated After Attack By Rabid Bat

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
University of Florida
/
The Florida Channel
A bat house provides shelter in a Florida field.

A Florida woman who was helping a friend into a car at a large retirement community felt something hit her arm but thought nothing of it until she went home and found a bat clinging to her arm.

The woman squished the bat and reported it to the Health Department, which said Thursday that the animal had tested positive for rabies.

The state Health Department says the woman is being treated.

Health officials in Hillsborough County say they believe it's an isolated incident and that there are no other cases in the Sun City Center retirement community in the Tampa, Florida area.

Rabies is a disease of the nervous system and is fatal to warm blooded animals and humans.