Tularemia (patient information)

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Tularemia

Overview

What are the symptoms?

Who is at highest risk?

When to seek urgent medical care?

Diagnosis

Treatment options

Where to find medical care for Tularemia?

What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)?

Possible complications

Tularemia On the Web

Ongoing Trials at Clinical Trials.gov

Images of Tularemia

Videos on Tularemia

FDA on Tularemia

CDC on Tularemia

Tularemia in the news

Blogs on Tularemia

Directions to Hospitals Treating Tularemia

Risk calculators and risk factors for Tularemia

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

Tularemia is a potentially serious illness that occurs naturally in the United States. It is caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis found in animals (especially rodents, rabbits, and hares).

What are the symptoms of Tularemia?

Symptoms of tularemia could include:

People can also catch pneumonia and develop chest pain, bloody sputum and can have trouble breathing and even sometimes stop breathing. Other symptoms of tularemia depend on how a person was exposed to the tularemia bacteria. These symptoms can include ulcers on the skin or mouth, swollen and painful lymph glands, swollen and painful eyes, and a sore throat.

Who is at highest risk?

Tularemia (also known as deerfly fever or rabbit fever) is an infectious disease. Tularemia was first described by scientists in 1911. Its ability to infect whole populations was seen during outbreaks of waterborne disease in Europe and the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1940s. People can get tularemia many different ways:

  • Being bitten by an infected tick, deerfly or other insect
  • Handling infected animal carcasses
  • Eating or drinking contaminated food or water
  • Breathing in the bacteria, F. tularensis

Tularemia is not known to be spread from person to person. People who have tularemia do not need to be isolated. People who have been exposed to the tularemia bacteria should be treated as soon as possible. The disease can be fatal if it is not treated with the right antibiotics.

When to seek urgent medical care?

If you think you have symptoms of tularemia, contact your healthcare provider as soon as possible.

Diagnosis

Healthcare providers can diagnose tularemia by doing lab tests on your blood or sputum (saliva or mucus).

Treatment options

If you think you have symptoms of tularemia, contact your healthcare provider as soon as possible. Antibiotics, such as doxycycline or ciprofloxacin, can effectively treat tularemia. A tularemia vaccine strain is being reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration, but its future availability is uncertain, mainly because of the length of time it takes for the vaccine to work (about 2 weeks). The U.S. Department of Defense also has developed an experimental tularemia vaccine. To date, health officials have limited the use of this vaccine to laboratory and other high-risk workers.

Where to find medical care for Tularemia?

Directions to Hospitals Treating Condition

What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)?

Tularemia is a potentially serious illness that occurs naturally in the United States.

Possible complications

People can also catch pneumonia and develop chest pain, bloody sputum and can have trouble breathing and even sometimes stop breathing.

Sources

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/tularemia/facts.asp

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