Tularemia, also known as “rabbit fever,” is a disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. Tularemia is typically found in animals, especially rodents, rabbits, and hares.

The disorder most commonly occurs in North America and parts of Europe and Asia. In the United States, this disease is found more often in Missouri, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

The infection can happen anywhere in the world, but it’s most common in rural areas where animals are more likely to be infected with the bacteria. It can survive in soil, water, and dead animals for weeks. That’s why it can cause infections in so many ways.

Some people may develop pneumonia after breathing in infected dirt or plant material. This infection has been known to occur on Martha’s Vineyard (Massachusetts), where bacteria are present in rabbits, raccoons, and skunks.

 The illness usually starts suddenly. It may continue for several weeks after symptoms begin.

 People can get tularemia by:

• Insect bites, especially from a deer fly or tick( dog tick, wood tick, lone star tick) with tularemia bacteria.
• Touching animal tissue with tularemia bacteria, most commonly when hunting or skinning infected rabbits, hares, muskrats, beavers, prairie dogs, and other rodents.
• Coming into contact with the skin, hair, or meat of an animal that’s infected
• Consuming contaminated water or food, such as undercooked meat
• Breathing in bacteria that comes up from the soil during an activity like construction or gardening
• It’s also possible to become infected if you’re exposed to the bacteria in a laboratory setting, or potentially, in an act of bioterrorism.
  
  

Symptoms vary depending how the person was infected. Tularemia can be life-threatening, but most infections can be treated successfully with antibiotics.

General Symptoms include:

•     Fever, chills, sweating
•     Eye irritation (called conjunctivitis, if the infection began in the eye)
•     Headache
•     Joint stiffness, muscle pain
•     Red spot on the skin, growing to become a sore (ulcer)
•     Shortness of breath
•     Weight loss

HOW TO AVOID TULAREMIA:

  1)Avoiding contact with sick or dead animals.

  2) Wearing gloves when handling wild animals.

  3)Using insect repellent to reduce the chance of a tick or fly bite.

  4)Keeping cats indoors and not allowing pets to hunt small animals can protect you and your pets from getting tularemia.

  5)Wearing clothing that covers exposed skin (tight at the wrists and ankles)

  6) Removing ticks promptly

  7) Drinking clean water

  8)Fully cooking wild meat

Some people might recover from tularemia without antibiotics, but the risk for severe complications, including organ damage, is high.

POSSIBLE COMPLICATIONS:

Tularemia may lead to these complications:

•     Bone infection (osteomyelitis)
•     Infection of the sac around the heart (pericarditis)
•     Infection of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord (meningitis)
•    Pneumonia