"Rabbit fever" suspected in New York as rare illness resurfaces
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A 1972 photomicrograph shows Francisella tularensis, the bacterium that causes tularemia. Photo: P.B. Smith/CDC via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images.
Three suspected cases of the rare tick-borne illness tularemia, also known as "rabbit fever," have been identified on Long Island, Suffolk County health officials said Monday.
Why it matters: The rare illness can be caught while mowing your lawn and comes at a time when tick-borne illnesses are sharply rising in the United States.
Driving the news: "SCDHS currently has three probable cases of tularemia this year," Ryan DeFelippis, public relations director for the department, told Axios in an email.
- Full confirmation could take several weeks, the county told ABC 7 New York, since diagnosis requires testing and analysis.
Context: Tularemia is commonly spread through bites from infected ticks or flies, though people also can become infected through contact with infected animals.
- It cannot spread person to person.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says people can be exposed to tularemia due to "bioterrorism." The pathogen has been prepared as a bioweapon by the U.S., Soviets, Japan, Britain and others.
By the numbers: Since 1984, there have been fewer than 315 cases of "rabbit fever" per year, the CDC says.
- Case numbers have been rising over the last few years, per national health data.
- Suffolk County has reported multiple cases of "rabbit fever" over the years, with four in 2024 and three in 2023, per the county's health data. Only one case was reported in 2022.
- Cases for the illness spike from May to September, per the CDC.
The big picture: Tick-borne diseases are becoming increasingly common in the U.S., with approximately 476,000 people treated for Lyme disease each year.
- In May, tick bite emergency room visits reached their highest rate in nearly a decade.
Read more below.
What is tularemia?
The CDC says tularemia is a "potentially serious illness" caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis
- People can be infected if they're bitten by ticks — usually the American dog tick and the Lone Star tick.
- Someone can also get rabbit fever if they have any direct interaction with an animal sick with the illness, or if they drink water or inhale dust that's contaminated with the bacteria, according to the CDC.
- You can also get it from eating undercooked rabbit meat.
Zoom in: The illness is sometimes referred to as "deer fly fever," "wild hare disease" and "lawnmower tularemia."
What are "rabbit fever" symptoms?
Common symptoms for rabbit fever, per the Cleveland Clinic, include:
- Abdominal pain.
- Fever.
- Chills.
- Headache and muscle aches.
- Loss of appetite.
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Swollen lymph nodes.
- Other potential symptoms include pink eye, skin rash, sore throat, cough, diarrhea and confusion.
How is rabbit fever treated?
Doctors will often prescribe antibiotics that can kill the bacteria that causes the infection.
- Experts recommend seeking treatment as quickly as possible. Some doctors might prescribe antibiotics before test results for the disease return, which can ward off the more serious symptoms.
- People can recover without antibiotics, but severe complications could follow.
Steps to prevent the illness include using insect repellent, wearing gloves when handling sick animals, and avoiding mowing over dead animals, per the CDC.
Go deeper: Be prepared this tick season
