Sasha Aket was walking to a shop in Abraham Street when the rat latched onto her ankle and bit her several times.
Desperate to get the rodent off, as she kicked her leg she flung it into the shop, and after it was removed from the premises, it chased her again.
Ms Aket said: “The rat problem is getting out of control; a rat attacked me unprovoked when I was walking to the shop.
“I was walking to the shop, and I heard squealing. I felt something on my foot in the ankle area.
“I looked down, and a rat was latched onto me, clawing, squealing and biting. It latched onto my ankle.”
Sasha said she panicked, kicking the rat into a shop.
She said: “I was kicking my leg, screaming because I was panicking.
“I flung it off into the shop.
“The shopkeeper and I started looking for it in the shop and found it hidden behind the Vimto lollies.
“I ran out of the shop, and it ran straight to me again and chased me.”
The bites broke the skin and left her bleeding, prompting a visit to the hospital where she was given two sets of antibiotics.
When she returned home and removed her footwear, she discovered two more bites that were red, swollen, and surrounded by scratch marks.
Doctors have told her to go back to hospital if she starts feeling flu-like symptoms as it could be developing rat bite fever, a rare, serious bacterial illness passed to humans from infected rodents.
She said: “I am not out of the woods yet, as I could get rat bite fever.
“I am still wary I could get sick from it.
“If I feel under the weather or feverish, I have to go back to hospital.”
Sasha said the experience has left her too afraid to visit the shop or leave the house without her feet and legs covered.
“I am scared to go back there. Plenty of kids play on the street where that happened; it is really worrying! I won’t be taking my kid to that area anymore,” she said.
Sasha is now urging the public to keep Blackburn’s streets clean to keep rodents away.
She said: “My Ring doorbell camera always captures people dumping rubbish, and we see so many litter pickers from the council coming to clear rubbish in back alleys.
“These rats clearly aren’t scared of humans anymore if one could bite me unprovoked like that.
“There needs to be more of an initiative to catch the people dumping rubbish and littering to prevent rats in the area.”
Blackburn with Darwen Council has been approached for comment.