Tularemia aka Rabbit Fever
Posted on March 19, 2008 - Filed Under General, Media |
Read it in the papers today and just found out that like the bird flu and mad cow diseases, rabbits have their own disease. Below is what happened to a woman in Thailand late last month.
Rabbit Fever Kills Woman in Thailand; Country’s First Fatality
By Suttinee YuvejwattanaMarch 18 (Bloomberg) — Rabbit fever, which can cause skin and mouth ulcers and pneumonia, killed a woman in Thailand, marking the country’s first reported case of the disease.
The 37-year-old from Prachuab Kirikhan province, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) south of Bangkok, died late last month and the cause of her death was confirmed by laboratory tests in the U.S., said an official at the Public Health Ministry today. Rabbit fever, also known as tularemia, is caused by a bacterium found in animals, especially rabbits and hares, and is treated with antibiotics.
The woman kept rabbits at her house and also had cancer, which may have weakened her immune system, making her more prone to infection, Thawat Sutrajarn, director general of the Disease Control Department, told a state-owned radio station today.
“We will educate our doctors nationwide to be able to diagnose and cure this disease as this case is quite new in Thailand,” Thawat said.
Tularemia is endemic in many parts of the world, including North America, Eastern Europe, China, Japan and Scandinavia, according to the World Health Organization in Geneva.
Tularemia can be contracted through the bite of an infected tick, deerfly or other insect, handling infected animal carcasses or through inhaling the bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. It’s not known to spread from person to person.
Diagnosing tularemia is difficult because initial symptoms, which include fever, headache, diarrhea, body aches and dry cough, resemble other diseases, Thawat said.
Taken from Bloomberg
Tularemia (also known as “rabbit fever”) is a serious infectious disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. The disease is endemic in North America, and parts of Europe and Asia. The primary vectors are ticks and deer flies, but the disease can also be spread through other arthropods. Animals such as rabbits, prairie dogs, hares and muskrats serve as reservoir hosts. The disease is named after Tulare County, California.
Treatments and prevention methods are available and the bacteria Francisella tularensis is regarded as a viable bioweapon agent, and it has been included in the biological warfare programs of the USA, USSR and Japan at various times.
More information on Tularemia / Rabbit Fever on Wikipedia
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