Typhoidal

Pneumonic

Oropharyngeal

Oculoglandular

Glandular

Ulceroglandular

This is the most serious form of tularemia. Symptoms include cough, chest pain, and difficulty breathing. This form results from breathing dusts or aerosols containing the organism.

All forms are accompanied by fever, which can be as high as 104 °F

Signs & Symptoms

Antibiotics used to treat tularemia include streptomycin, gentamicin, doxycycline, and ciprofloxacin.

likely exposures, such as tick and deer fly bites, or contact with sick or dead animals. 

nown to be spread from person to person

Symptoms of tularemia may include

Streptomycin

Gentamicin

Growth of F. tularensis in culture is the definitive means of confirming the diagnosis of tularemia. Appropriate specimens include swabs or scrapings of skin lesions, lymph node aspirates or biopsies, pharyngeal swabs, sputum specimens, or gastric aspirates, depending on the form of illness.

Highly contagious and potentially fatal, tularemia usually can be treated effectively with specific antibiotics if diagnosed early.

Tick and deer fly bites

antibiotics

Skin contact with infected animals

Tick and deer fly bites Skin contact with infected animals Ingestion of contaminated water Inhalation of contaminated aerosols or agricultural dusts Laboratory exposure

Francisella tularensis

Tularemia is more common in the months of May through September. Bites from infected ticks or deer flies usually occur in the summer months, but illness due to animal handling and hunting can occur at any time of the year

usually occur in the summer months

Tularemia is more common in males, possibly because of a greater likelihood of exposure through hunting and landscaping. Tularemia occurs in persons of all ages, but is most common in children.

most common in the south central United States, the Pacific Northwest, and parts of Massachusetts

inhaling dust or aerosols contaminated with F. tularensis bacteria.

rabbits, muskrats, prairie dogs and other rodents.

dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis), the wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni), and the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum). Deer flies (Chrysops spp.)

enter the human body through the skin, eyes, mouth, or lungs

causing major organs to fail. Pneumonia is common after inhalation but may also occur when the organism spreads throughout the body.

fever, fatigue, aches and headache. Swollen lymph nodes

Tularemia may be spread through inhalation of dried animal matter, eating undercooked game, skinning or dressing killed animals, or drinking water contaminated with animal carcasses.