NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - While domesticated rabbits are popular as pets, a report
in a medical journal highlights the fact that their wild counterparts
can carry serious diseases.
In the February
issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology, researchers outline
the tale of an 18-year-old man who sought medical care after 4
days of severe swelling and tenderness of his left eye and upper
eyelid. He also experienced a sustained fever, sweats, chills
and headache. He told doctors that 3 weeks prior he had brought
home a wild baby rabbit that ultimately died of unknown causes.
Although the
rabbit could not be examined, Dr. Tom Oetting and his colleagues
concluded that the patient's conjunctivitis and related problems
most likely were caused by his exposure to the sick rabbit. The
animal had likely been infected with Francisella tularensis--a
bacterium that can cause the disease tularemia in humans. The
doctors treated the man with streptomycin, which brings about
full recovery almost 100% of the time.
According
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wild cottontails,
marsh rabbits and swamp rabbits present the greatest hazard for
tularemia. The domestic rabbit is not a source of human tularemia.
Oetting told
Reuters Health that this type of infection is rare. He also emphasized
that certain tell-tale indications may signal such exposure.
"Fever,
(muscle soreness), headache, neck ache, lymph nodes being swollen
are all signs of infection--and in this boy's case he had an unusual
form of conjunctivitis," the researcher noted.
"It typically
comes from significant exposure--folks who might catch a rabbit
and play with it...or someone who's skinned wild animals. The
bottom line is not to handle wild rabbits and wild rodents in
general," Oetting advised.
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