Tularemia is a word that refers to a bacterial infection caused by a bacteria called Francisella tularensis. It can affect humans and animals and can cause symptoms like fever, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, and fatigue. It is usually contracted through contact with infected animals or bites from infected ticks or flies.
Full definition
Nearly 200 cases
of tularemia in the United States are reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention every year; most of them are caused by bites from ticks and flies and from handling animals infected from the disease.
It causes the disease
tularemia in humans, rabbits and rodents, among others.
There are two varieties of
tularemia bacteria found in the United States, Type B (Francisella tularensis biovar palearctica) and Type A (Francisella tularensis biovar tularensis).
The tools highlighted in the paper are now being used on biosecurity - relevant model systems such
as tularemia (rabbit fever).
The virulent pathogen that causes the
disease tularemia, or «rabbit fever,» was weaponized during past world wars and is considered a potential bioweapon.
Research led by scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has identified key molecules that trigger the immune system to launch an attack on the bacterium that
causes tularemia.
«For residents of areas such as the Southwest, where
tularemia outbreaks are endemic and potentially life threatening, having more identification tools at hand is extremely valuable,» Kuske said.
The authors said that, until recently, it had been difficult to find new toxins related to
tularemia virulence.
A disease
like Tularemia usually presents with fever, enlarged lymph nodes and can affect people too.
For example: A Lone Star Tick (Amblyomma americanum)
carries Tularemia disease, Ehrlichiosis, Tick Paralysis and on cats can transmit Cytauxzoonosis.
Tularemia usually has more severe symptoms, but regardless it would be best to visit your Veterinarian to get her checked over and treated.
If you suspect your dog has
contracted tularemia you should contact your veterinarian as soon as possible.
Although this disease can be spread at any time, incidents of
tularemia tend to be higher during warmer months, when temperatures are favorable for tick outbreaks.
Studies with mice demonstrated the necessary role IRF1 plays in galvanizing the immune system to
battle tularemia.
The low dose required for infectivity and the severity of the disease it causes had led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to classify F. tularensis as a Category A bioterrorism agent, and to track
tularemia cases nationwide, according to Dr. Brook Peterson, a senior scientist at the UW School of Medicine who also participated in the study.
* Francisella tularensis, the cause of
tularemia also known as Rabbit Fever, that was a College of American Pathologists (CAP) proficiency testing samples.
Humans can easily
develop tularemia through incidental contact with infected rabbits, cats, rodents or other animals (and the ticks or fleas that may be on them).
Due to this severity, the CDC has
made tularemia a reportable disease, and like the pathogens causing anthrax and plague, it is considered a bioweapon.
«Experiments reveal key components of the body's machinery for battling
deadly tularemia.»
According to the paper's first author, Si Ming Man, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in St. Jude Immunology, the findings could lead to new protective treatments
against tularemia, including drugs that can enhance the ability of IRF1, GBP or AIM2 to cure infections more quickly and effectively.
«The number of cases of
feline tularemia and cytauxzoonosis in the region diagnosed at the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory have increased steadily over the years, at least partly owing to the wider geographic distribution of Amblyomma americanum, or the lone star tick,» Raghavan said.
Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Malaria Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning Plague, Human or Animal Psittacosis Q Fever Rabies, Human or Animal Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Salmonellosis (Other than Typhoid Fever) Scombroid Fish Poisoning Swimmer's Itch (Schistosomal Dermatitis) Toxoplasmosis Trichinosis
Tuberculosis Tularemia Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (e.g., Crimean - Congo, Ebola, Lassa and Marburg viruses) Water - associated Disease Yellow Fever Yersiniosis
Streptomycin is often used reliably in both animals and humans to
combat tularemia infections, although other antibiotics such as gentamicin or tetracycline may be recommended depending on the circumstances.
The longer
symptomatic tularemia is left untreated the worse the prognosis becomes, and the more likely it becomes that the infection will lead to fatality.
Humans can become infected
with tularemia if they are bitten or scratched by a cat with the disease.
The samples included two vials of plague bacteria (Yersinia pestis); two vials of Burkholderia pseudomallei, which causes the tropical disease melioidosis; three vials of
tularemia bacteria; two vials of botulinum toxin; and a sample of deadly ricin in an old collection dating to 1914.
The Daily Puppy reported that fleas can transmit diseases such
as tularemia, flea allergy dermatitis, internal parasites and more.
«Understanding the notorious infectivity of Francisella tularensis: Fresh approach to an old problem yields clues to
tularemia virulence.»
Lone star ticks, abundant in the South, transmit infections
like tularemia, ehrlichiosis, and a Lyme - like illness not yet identified.
Additionally, they can
carry tularemia, which can also be contracted through exposure to infected animals.
Symptoms in humans are similar and if you expect that you have
contracted tularemia, you should see your doctor as well for prompt treatment.
Incidents of
tularemia tend to be higher when tick and deer fly populations are on the upsurge during summer months.
Initial results from a pricey national air sampling system suggested that bacteria that could
cause tularemia had been detected.
In some areas, diagnosis
of tularemia may need to be reported to the local public health authorities.
Bite: A. americanum larvae and nymphs feed on birds and deer, even lizards and have been known to transmit STARI, ehrlichiosis,
tularemia, and other Lyme - like diseases, but the CDC does not recognize the lone star as a transmitter of true Lyme.
That knowledge will be a big advance in our understanding of
tularemia,» said senior author Dr. Joseph Mougous, associate professor of microbiology at the UW School of Medicine.
Untreated,
tularemia can be lethal; however, it generally responds to antibiotics.
Tularemia (also known as «rabbit fever») is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis.
The team, led by Thirumala - Devi Kanneganti, Ph.D., a member of the St. Jude Department of Immunology, found key receptors responsible for sensing DNA in cells infected by
the tularemia - causing bacterium, Francisella.
Tularemia is a highly infectious disease that kills more than 30 percent of those infected, if left untreated.
The inflammasome that attacks
the tularemia bacterium is triggered by the sensor protein AIM2 that recognizes the tularemia DNA.
This surely contributes to the rarity or nonexistence of human - to - human transmission of rabies (acquired by the bite of an infected dog or bat); cat - scratch disease (which causes skin lesions and swollen lymph nodes);
tularemia (a disease, often acquired when hunting and cutting up an infected rabbit, that can cause skin ulcers, swollen lymph nodes, and fever); and BSE (probably acquired by eating the nervous system tissue of infected cows).
Mammalian reservoirs like mice and chipmunks carry Lyme disease and
tularemia; ticks transmit these diseases to humans.
A researcher at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Frederick, Maryland, has contracted rabbit fever — also known as
tularemia, USAMRIID officials announced today.
Raghavan said the best - known diseases resulting from pathogens transmitted by the lone star tick include human monocytic ehrlichiosis and human ewingii ehrlichiosis,
tularemia, southern tick - associated rash illness and feline cytauxzoonosis.