WALTHAMSTOW: 'Rat attack' prompts pregnancy fears (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

WALTHAMSTOW: 'Rat attack' prompts pregnancy fears

4:14pm Thursday 5th August 2010 in News

A WOMAN who is five months pregnant fears walking down the street after she was bitten by a rat.

Anne Kotecha, 37, was walking down Gosport Road,

Walthamstow, when a rodent suddenly bit her foot.

She was wearing sandals as she pushed her two-year-old daughter Mia in her buggy on Thursday morning (July 29).

She suddenly started spotting a number of rats as she walked home and is now anxious about taking the route/

Ms Kotecha, of The Crescent, Walthamstow, said: “It's not just one rat, there are quite few I saw on my way home.

“There were about six tails coming out of a man hole in the pavement.

“I wasn't scared but very surprised to see a rat on the street. You just don't expect it.

“It happened so quickly. I was walking along the street and felt a little nip on my foot.

“I looked down and I saw a rat running off. I think I might have stood on its tail and that's why it retaliated.

“My foot started bleeding but it didn't hurt, so I didn't think much of it and just carried on with the day."

But later friends advised her to get checked out at Whipps Cross University Hospital.

After seeing a doctor she was sent home with antibiotics, but says she would like a blood test to put her mind at rest.

She added: “When there's a baby involved it makes things difficult.

"I have been feeling under the weather lately and I've been worrying all week that it could be blood poisoning.

“I am very uneasy about going down that street now, and I will probably start walking on the other side of the road.

“Now I am thinking a rat could just jump out at any time.”

Click here to follow the Waltham Forest Guardian on Twitter