A woman fires and kills a rabid raccoon after attacking her four-year-old son on her porch

A four-year-old boy in Georgia is undergoing treatment for rabies after being attacked by a rabid raccoon on his porch on Thursday.

Chandler Mahaffey's mother, Amber Mahaffey, killed the wild animal after she expelled him from his child and he ran around his property.

Amber realized that something was wrong when her son "started screaming and shouting," she told Fox 5 News in Atlanta.

"I looked around the corner and a raccoon was holding it on her hand," she said.

Chander tried to fight the raccoon, but Amber had to chase him, she said, before killing her and bringing her son to the hospital.

Chandler is now recovering at home with his family in Covington.

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Chandler Mahaffey, a four-year-old boy in Georgia, receives treatment for rabies after being attacked by a rabid raccoon on his family's porch in Covinton Thursday

Amber described the moment she saw her son being bitten by the creature in the newspaper.

"They fought on the ground and he was trying to fight the raccoon, and while he was trying to fight him, the raccoon was holding him and biting him repeatedly," Amber said.

"So, we expelled the raccoon from him. He ran around the house trying to attack everyone.

Once the raccoon has moved away from the rest of her family, Amber has shot her, she said.

Then she immediately took Chandler to the Atlanta Children's Health Care Chain in Egleston.

Officials at Newton County Animal Control tested the animal for rabies and confirmed that it was the first case of positive rabies in the county this year; Chandler received his first rage Friday

Officials from Newton County Animal Control tested the animal for rabies and confirmed that it was the first case of positive rabies in the county this year.

"An exposed person who has never been vaccinated against rabies should receive four doses of rabies vaccine – one dose immediately and additional doses on days three, seven and four. They should also receive another injection called rabies immune globulin at the same time as the first dose, "said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"A person who has already been vaccinated should receive two doses of rabies vaccine, one immediately and the other on the third day. Rabies immunoglobulin is not necessary.

Chandler received his first rabies vaccine Friday, said Amber.

Neighbors, Joseph Scroughams, said he would be looking for other wild animals with rabies-infected traits, including aggressive, aggressive, approachable and approachable CDC.

Animals infected with rabies, such as raccoons and bats – which are the most common source of infection in humans – may also appear to lather in the mouth because the disease causes a production excessive saliva.

While nearly 7,000 cases of animal rabies are reported to federal authorities each year, human rabies is rare in the United States, according to the CDC, with only 55 cases diagnosed since 1990; A stock image of a raccoon that is not infected with rabies is displayed here

"It makes you a bit nervous but I have lived in the woods all my life," Scroughams said.

"I wanted to go with the neighbors, take guns to cross the woods, three or four of us together."

While nearly 7,000 cases of animal rabies are reported to federal authorities each year, human rabies is rare in the United States, the CDC said. There have been only 55 cases diagnosed since 1990.

The CDC recommends immediate anti-rabies treatment if you are bitten by a rabid animal, rather than waiting for the symptoms to manifest, which can take days, months or even a year.

If left untreated, rabies can cause pain, fatigue, headache, fever and irritability, followed by epileptic seizures. hallucinations and paralysis. Human rabies is almost always fatal.