Domestic rabbits and tularemia?

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This topic has 4sd replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 9 months ago by Bam.

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- 07/05/2014 at 1:56 PM
  FluffyBunny
  Participant
  1264 posts
  Hi! I haven’t been on this forum in a long time, but I’m finding very little info on this, so this seemed like a good place to ask…
  
  Does anyone know whether or not domestic rabbits can get tularemia? It’s a disease that affects wild rabbits and can also infect humans. There’s an outbreak of it among the wild cottontails around here, and apparently a lot of bunnies are dying. Apparently, it can be spread by insects, or by contact with a dead animal. I’ve also read that breathing in dust or water that’s been contaminated can cause infection. I’m obviously very worried about my bunnies. Should I take any extra precautions? Can they catch it in the first place?
- 07/05/2014 at 2:21 PM
  Tessie
  Participant
  1231 posts
  Did a quick google and I’ve come up with conflicting information!
  The house rabbit society says it’s fine: http://www.rabbit.org/health/exotic-diseases.html
  But other things say it can happen… most seem to say its rare.
  
  Maybe someone else will know!
- 07/05/2014 at 2:29 PM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  If you have an indoor rabbit I don’t think you need to worry.
- 07/05/2014 at 2:31 PM
  FluffyBunny
  Participant
  1264 posts
  I assume if it was easy for house rabbits to catch, there would be more info about it…
  
  I don’t need to worry about tracking it in on shoes, or mosquitoes biting the bunnies, etc? Those are my main concerns. Yes, they’re 100% house bunnies.
- 07/08/2014 at 2:00 AM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17031 posts
  Tularemia is spread by mosquitoes above all but can also spread by tracking dust in on shoes.(plus by handling infected meat and/or eating it rare but I guess you wouldn’t be doing that). Drinking infected water may also be a route of contagion. It can infect lots of animals including cats and humans and reptiles and even spiders, but the most susceptible to the disease are your wild cottontail rabbits (not the same species as domestic rabbits) and hares (lepus species) I think you call them Jack rabbits but they aren’t actually rabbits, they don’t have the same nr of chromosomes + small rodents like mice and fieldmice. It is highly contagious.
  
  Infected (wild) animals often die from septiscemia. The causative agent is a bacteria (francisella tularensis) so it can be cured with antibiotics. If you yourself contract it it starts with a boil where the mosquito stung you a couple of days earlier. Then near-by lymph-nodes get affected and fever, headache and other symtoms arise. You should absolutely seek medical attention if you get a boil after a mosquito-bite and take care to mention the tularemia outbreak in your area.
  
  I got this from the Swedish National Veterinary Medicine something, which is an offical and reliable source. The incidence of tularemia in humans is rising in Sweden (I live in Sweden). It was almost unheard of 15 years ago except in hunters who’d handled meat from infected hares.
  
  The link is in Swedish. http://www.sva.se/sv/Djurhalsa1/Vilda-djur/Viltsjukdomar/Harpest/
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