Overview
- Suffolk County said Monday that it has identified three probable cases of tularemia and is waiting for specialized laboratory tests that officials say can take several weeks to confirm.
- Tularemia is a rare bacterial infection caused by Francisella tularensis that people typically catch from tick or deer fly bites, handling infected animals, inhaling contaminated dust, or drinking contaminated water; it does not spread from person to person.
- Common signs include sudden high fever, severe fatigue, painful ulcers at a bite site and swollen lymph nodes, and doctors warn the illness can require emergency care when symptoms are intense.
- Health authorities say tularemia is treatable with antibiotics such as streptomycin, gentamicin or amikacin, and note a nine-year-old Long Island patient diagnosed earlier this year recovered after antibiotic treatment.
- Officials are urging simple prevention steps—use EPA-registered repellents, wear long clothing, do thorough tick checks, avoid mowing over carcasses, and wear gloves when handling wildlife—and they say clinicians should consider tularemia in compatible tick-bite illnesses during the May–September season.