Rabbit Fever: How Humans Can Contract the Disease Tularemia

Arriving home from school one afternoon, my youngest daughter, then only 8, asked me if she could take home a rabbit. My answer was a firm "no," knowing fully well that she was referring to that rabbit the parents of one of her classmates were letting go (i.e., turned over to a veterinarian for proper handling or disposition) because the animal was found to be the cause of her classmate's being ill with tularemia. In fact, that incident became the talk in my daughter's school for several days, and some of the children - my daughter included - thought they can make a bid to have the rabbit for them to take care.

Tularemia, or rabbit fever, is an infectious disease having such severe symptoms as chills, fever, vomiting, and prostration, all of which develop about three days after the specific germ has invaded the tissues. A couple of days from the occurrence of these symptoms, an elevated lesion develops at the infection's site which later becomes ulcerous. It is possible that there is more than one lesion, especially in cases when either the eye or mouth is involved.

The lymph nodes adjacent to the ulcer/s form abscesses and become enlarged. Within the next three days, high fever occurs; in a lot of cases, a lung may become involved much like in pneumonia. At this stage, the spleen usually becomes enlarged. This sequence of development of rabbit fever was explained to me by the mother of my daughter's classmate during a conversation I had with her several weeks after her daughter had recovered completely from the illness and resumed attending her classes.

Untreated cases of rabbit fever can cause the body's temperature to remain high for four weeks, declining slowly on the fifth week. The tularemia-causing germs penetrate the body through a break in the skin; in other cases, it may be by contact with the internal membranes. Despite the fact that these germs occur generally in nature, most cases of rabbit fever result from contact with infected rabbits, hence the name given to this infectious disease.

But contact with infected rabbits is not the only cause in many other cases of tularemia; it is also possible for a person to acquire rabbit fever through any of the following: insect bites, eating inadequately-cooked meats of infected animals, or drinking contaminated water. It is important, therefore, to take great caution when handling rabbits or any other rodent; the animals' fur may be carrying the germs. Meats, especially poultry and flesh of wild fowl, should be sufficiently cooked before they are eaten. Drinking water of suspicious purity should be appropriately purified before use.

Cases of rabbit fever in which the lungs are affected are particularly serious. Such cases, if not treated at once, can be fatal. Doctors often prescribe streptomycin for antibiotic, the same one prescribed to my daughter's classmate. The patient should stay in bed, have a liberal diet of foods that can be digested easily, and be given sufficient amounts of fluid. Applying an ice bag over lymph nodes or ulcerated areas for about fifteen to twenty minutes every hour can somehow alleviate the condition. The doctor will prescribe a special medication or treatment in cases when tularemia has affected one or both eyes.

Source: http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/hb/hbtulare.htm