Texas Officials on Lookout for Rabbit Fever
Date: 13-Jun-06
Country: USA
Author: Jerry Bieszk
The latest case was confirmed recently in an area near Rick Husband International Airport in Amarillo, Texas, according to Amarillo Bi-City-County Health District officials.
Although no human cases have been reported from the most recent outbreak, there have been seven human cases of tularemia reported in Texas since 2002.
"In my opinion, you would be better off not eating or handling rabbits that come from anywhere near the infected area," said Ken Cearley, Texas Cooperative Extension wildlife specialist.
People can contract the disease by direct contact with an infected animal or carcass via broken skin, the bite of an infected flea or tick, eating infected meat or inhaling the bacteria.
"So far we have not found anything outside the original area where it was found," said Dr. Jim Alexander, regional Health Services zoonosis control veterinarian in Canyon, Texas. "We found some ticks and fleas off some of the original animals that were positive."
Tularemia was a reportable disease -- or one considered to be of great public health importance -- in humans until 1992, when it was taken off the list.
However, it was placed back on the list in 2002 due to bio-terrorism concerns, Alexander said. The disease is highly infectious, can be contracted from a small number of bacteria (10 to 50 organisms), and the bacteria could potentially be made airborne so they could be inhaled.
Symptoms, usually appearing three to five days after exposure, include sudden fever, headaches, diarrhea, muscle aches, joint pain, dry cough, progressive weakness, ulcers on the skin or in the mouth and swollen or painful lymph glands.
