MEXICO – It was like a nightmare, a vampire movie that had come to life for Fernand Corriveau.

A little brown common bat was flying around his new business site along the Swift River in Mexico last week and dove straight for Corriveau’s neck.

“We were at the hydro plant, putting up a fence and pulling debris from the channel when we saw it. I thought it was odd that it was out during the day,” said Corriveau, who lives in Gilead.

Corriveau ran to his van as the bat approached and shut the door. But not before the bat also entered the van; the confused critter then got on his shoulder and went for his neck.

“He really dug his teeth into me, then he went to attack my son-in-law, Christopher Hooper, who hit it with his hat,” he said.

Corriveau’s wound bled profusely.

The animal fell to the ground where his son, Franklin, stepped on it. The bat was then thrown over a fence into a grassy area.

That turned out to be a mistake.

Because he was later told by a vet and others that the bite could be dangerous, Corriveau and his wife, Beverley, returned that night – Friday – to the hydro plant site, flashlight in hand, to try to find the dead animal. It might be rabid, they were told.

“They said it could be serious, that we’d have to find the bat or Fernand would have to start treatment for rabies,” Beverley said.

After finding the bat, they visited the hospital and local police stations, and finally were told that it had to be taken to Augusta for testing.

A lab test there found the bat to be rabid.

Fernand, his son, and son-in-law began treatment Monday and are undergoing a series of painful shots at Bridgton Hospital that are expected to be completed by mid-July. That hospital was chosen because the Corriveaus’ youngest son, Freeman, and his wife, Seneca, had just had a baby boy delivered there Sunday.

On Thursday, Corriveau was returning from another series of shots that he described as not as bad as they used to be, but still painful.

“There’s a lot of serum and the needles are long so they can reach the muscles,” he said.

The rabies case is the second reported in Oxford County this year. A rabid fox was tested in Fryeburg recently, said Dr. Andrew Pelletier, an epidemiologist with the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Maine Center for Disease Control.

No cases of rabies have been reported in Franklin County so far this year, but in Androscoggin County two cases of rabies have been determined – a raccoon in Greene and a skunk in Lewiston.

Statewide, 38 cases have been confirmed.

Pelletier said last year a total of 127 cases were reported statewide. There were 61 cases in 2005, 69 in 2004, 82 in 2003, 67 in 2002, 85 in 2001, and 139 in 2000.

He said higher numbers of reported cases tend to be cyclical, with 2000 and 2006 among the highest in recent years.

He said people should look at any wild animal as potentially rabid. Bats, a nocturnal animal, aren’t supposed to be out flying during the day. He also said that although bats are generally beneficial because of their ability to reduce the insect population, people should keep bats out of their homes.

“Anytime there is direct contact with a bat, it should be captured and submitted for testing,” said Pelletier.

That holds true for nearly any other animal.

“Most wildlife will keep a safe distance from humans. If they don’t, that’s a problem,” he said.

The cost for undergoing the series of six rabies shots runs to about $2,000, he said.