Francisella Tularensis

Francisella Tularensis
This is the Bacterium "Francisella Tularaensis"

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Case Study

Dimitri G. was the main provider for his family, his wife and two children. His job as one of the village hunters kept him plenty busy, but allowed him to bring home some of the things he caught. He was late 20s, around 27. He was a Caucasian male of Swedish decent, living in the quaint little village of Algot. On this particular day in late October, he had caught the trail of a rabbit.  He decided that it would be the perfect end to his day. Once it was caught he took it home to his wife. He skinned and sliced the rabbit as she prepared a pot to boil it in. However, he made one fatal mistake. This hare was infected with Tularaemia. While cleaning this hare, he touched his face allowing the contaminated blood to enter his body.

Two days after Dimitri didn’t feel so well. Based on his symptoms of aches and pains through his body, sore throat, high fever, and chills his wife assumed it was the flu. She made him stay home from work and in bed. Then a rash appeared along with ulcers and open sores on his body. At this point they were not sure what it was. Dimitri was miserable and felt weak. None of the other family members had gotten sick. After a week they decided to take him to the doctor.

After looking over the patient, the doctor was not sure what exactly he had. It was no flu because of the extra symptoms. The patient’s illness had hung on longer than any other flu as well. He asked the family for a history of what he had eaten in the few days before he became sick. There it was a rabbit. After running a few tests, the doctor concluded that Dimitri had Tularaemia. Tularaemia is not contagious so the rest of the family had nothing to worry about. It is easily treated and cured with antibiotics.

A few weeks later Dimitri was back to his job, happy and healthy. He no longer had to worry about Tularaemia now that he was immune.

Works Cited


Works Cited

“Biosafety Fiasco.” New Scientist. January 29, 2005. Gale Student Resources. GALE. 3 October, 2011. http://ic.galegroup.com.

“Cases of tularaemia in central Norway are still rising.” Online Image. Norwegian Institute for Public Health. 30 March, 2011. Norwegian Institute for Public Health. 13 October, 2011. http://www.fhi.no/eway/default.aspx?pid=238&trg=MainLeft_5812&MainLeft_5812=5825:89238::0:5968:18:::0:0.

 “An obscure weapon of the cold war edges into the limelight: the tularemia bacterium sickened thousands during World War II and was stockpiled by the superpowers. Now researchers are racing to comprehend this potential bioterror threat.” Science. October 10, 2003.  Gale Student Resources. GALE. 4 October, 2011. http://ic.galegroup.com.

Francisella tularensis OSU18.” Baylor College of Medicine. 1998-2007 Baylor College of Medicine. 26 October 26, 2011. http://www.hgsc.bcm.tmc.edu/microbial-detail.xsp?project_id=120.

                “Tularaemia.” Global Alert and Response (GAR). 2011. World Health Organization. 3 October,                  2011.    http://www.who.int/csr/delibepidemics/tularaemia/en/.

“Tularaemia.” Online Image. NCZR. University of Liverpool. 6 October, 2011. http://www.zoonosis.ac.uk/fact-sheets/tularaemia.html

“Tularaemia.” Patient.co.uk April 20, 2009. 2011 EMIS. 3 October, 2011. http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Tularaemia.htm.

“Tularemia.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. January 11, 2011.  CDC. 4 October, 2011. http://www.cdc.gov/tularemia/.

“Tularemia.” The Free Dictionary by Farlex. 2011 Farlex Inc. 19 October 2011 http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/oculoglandular+tularemia

 “Tularemia.” World of Microbiology and Immunology. 2007 Gale Student Resources. GALE. 4 October, 2011. http://ic.galegroup.com.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Top Ten Most Important Things You Need To Know About Tularaemia

Here are the top 10 things about Tularaemia:
1.    Tularaemia is caused by the bacterium “Francisella tularensis.”

2.      It is typically caught from rabbits.

3.      Tularaemia is most common among North American rabbit hunters, villagers that live in central Sweden, and southern Russian farmers.

4.      The incubation period can be anywhere from one day to three weeks.

5.      Usually, symptoms appear two to five days after the infection.

6.      Symptoms usually include: sore throat, high fever, chills, muscle aches, dry cough, weakness, rash, swelling of the lymph nodes, open sores on the skin, and headaches.

7.      These symptoms hang on longer than the usual flu.

8.      Tularaemia can be treated with antibiotics and the patient usually recovers after a few weeks.

9.      The disease is no longer as prominent as it once was, less than fifty people worldwide die from it each year.

10. Most of the people who now get it are ones who are constantly exposed to this organism.

The CDC suggests that you avoid getting tick bites, wear gloves when you are exposed to dead or wild animals, cook wild animal meats thoroughly before eating them, and constant hand washing.

Has this helped answer your questions?

Tularaemia Rabbit

Tularaemia Rabbit