A New Jersey mother is warning other parents after her 9-year-old son contracted tularemia, commonly known as rabbit fever, from a tick bite in the family’s own backyard. Tracey Detmer says she pulled a tick from her son John’s head in late April, in Suffolk County, after he had been playing outside. Weeks of fever and pain followed before doctors identified the cause.
The case is one of three probable tularemia diagnoses reported in Suffolk County this year, during what local health officials describe as a particularly active tick season. Nationally, the U.S. sees roughly 200 cases of rabbit fever annually, according to the CDC, making John’s diagnosis rare even by the standards of an uncommon disease.
Why this Case is Getting Attention Now
Rabbit fever rarely makes local news, largely because it is so infrequently diagnosed. Three probable cases in a single county in one season is enough to register as a cluster relative to national averages. Health officials attribute the uptick to tick population growth this year, a trend echoed across multiple Northeastern states.
John’s mother described the illness as severe: 10 days of fever alongside intense head and neck pain, with the family making multiple doctor visits before an infectious disease specialist reached a diagnosis. “He was sick. He was truly so sick,” Detmer said. Months later, she says his energy has still not fully returned.
How Do You Get Rabbit Fever?
Rabbit fever is caused by Francisella tularensis, a bacterium found in more than 100 wild and domestic animal species, though it is named for its most common carriers: rabbits, hares, and rodents. Squirrels, muskrats, beavers, and prairie dogs can also carry it.
Humans do not need direct contact with an infected animal to become sick. The CDC lists tick and deer fly bites as the leading route of infection in the U.S., alongside handling infected animal carcasses, breathing in contaminated dust from mowing or farming, drinking contaminated water, or eating undercooked wild game.
How is Rabbit Fever Spread Between Animals and People?
In John’s case, the transmission path was a tick bite, not direct contact with wildlife. Detmer says wild rabbits frequently visit the family’s yard, but her son never touched them. That detail matters medically: a rabbit fever tick bite requires no direct animal contact at all, since ticks pick up the bacteria after feeding on an infected host and pass it along later. Person-to-person transmission does not occur, according to state health departments, which means the disease cannot spread through the classroom, the household, or casual contact once someone is infected.
What are the Rabbit Fever Symptoms in Humans?
Rabbit fever symptoms in humans typically appear three to five days after exposure, though onset can take up to two weeks. The most common presentation is flu-like: fever, chills, fatigue, and body aches, similar to what John experienced.
Depending on how the bacteria entered the body, additional symptoms can include swollen lymph nodes, skin ulcers at the bite site, eye irritation, sore throat, or, in rarer inhaled or ingested forms, cough, chest pain, or abdominal pain. Severity ranges widely, from mild illness to, in untreated cases, life-threatening infection.
What is the Rabbit Fever in Dogs and Other Pets?
Rabbit fever in dogs is possible, though veterinary sources note dogs rarely show obvious signs of illness even when infected. Cats, by contrast, tend to show more visible symptoms and have been documented as a source of human infection after eating infected wildlife. The American Veterinary Medical Association lists sheep, cats, dogs, pigs, and horses among domestic animals susceptible to the disease, while noting cattle appear largely resistant.
Veterinarians recommend contacting a vet if a pet becomes ill after contact with rabbits, squirrels, or other rodents, particularly in regions where tularemia is more established, such as parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas, which together account for more than half of U.S. animal cases.
What is the Rabbit Fever in Squirrels and Broader Wildlife Risk?
Rabbit fever in squirrel populations is well documented, and outbreaks among rabbits, hares, and rodents can cause visibly high die-off rates in affected areas. Anyone who finds unusual numbers of dead small mammals in a yard or park is advised to avoid contact and report it to local wildlife or health authorities rather than investigate directly.
What is the Treatment for Rabbit Fever?
Treatment for rabbit fever is antibiotics, and outcomes are generally good when treatment starts early. The CDC and multiple state health departments note that fewer than 1% of properly treated cases are fatal.
The greater risk comes from delayed diagnosis, since tularemia’s flu-like symptoms overlap with far more common illnesses, which is part of why it took John’s family several visits to reach the correct diagnosis.
There is currently no approved vaccine for tularemia in the general public, which places the emphasis on prevention rather than immunization.
What Doctors Recommend Going Forward?
Health officials in Suffolk County have not indicated the cluster reflects an ongoing outbreak beyond seasonal tick activity, but they are advising the same precautions recommended nationally: wearing long sleeves, long pants, and gloves during outdoor activity in grassy or wooded areas, checking for ticks promptly after time outside, and avoiding contact with sick or dead wild animals. Tick checks matter because most tick-borne transmission requires the tick to remain attached for four or more hours.
For families like the Detmers, the lingering question is less about the initial diagnosis and more about recovery time, since John’s mother says his stamina still has not returned to pre-illness levels months later, a reminder that even a treatable case of rabbit fever can take longer to fully resolve than the antibiotic course itself suggests.
