infections
Tularemia
Transmission
Francisella tularensisis normally present in animals, especially rodents, rabbits, and hares. Wild animals and pets may carry the bacteria. People may be infected by doing the following: Handling infected animal carcasses (as when hunters skin rabbits or when butchers, farmers, fur handlers, and laboratory workers handle animals or animal products) Being bitten by an infected tick, deer fly, flea, or other insect, usually during the summer (particularly for children) Eating or drinking contaminated food (such as undercooked rabbit meat) or water Inhaling airborne particles that contain the bacteria (as when people mowing grass run over a dead, infected animal or when people are working with the bacteria in a laboratory) is a potential Biological Weapons . It can be spread through the air and be inhaled. The size of the airborne particles determines where they lodge in the respiratory tract. Small particles lodge in air sacs of the lungs and cause Tularemia is not spread from person to person. 