When people hear the words “rabbit fever,” most probably imagine a hunter somewhere in the woods handling a wild rabbit. It sounds like an illness from another era, something connected to remote outdoor adventures rather than everyday life.
But the latest tularemia cases in Suffolk County tell a different story.
One of the people infected this year was a nine-year-old Riverhead boy who was playing in his backyard when a tick was found on his head. Another reported case involved a woman whose cat later died after being infected with the same disease.
Those details are what make this year’s cases unusual. Tularemia is rare, but the recent infections show that exposure does not always happen in the places people expect.
Sometimes it happens a few steps from the back door.
Suffolk County Reaches Four Tularemia Cases This Year
Suffolk County health officials confirmed a fourth tularemia case this year, bringing the county’s total to four cases as of early August.
Dr. Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, confirmed the cases after earlier reports had listed three probable infections. At the same time, officials waited for additional testing and confirmation.
Tularemia is caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. People can become infected through several routes, including tick bites, deer fly bites, contact with infected animals, or exposure to contaminated animal tissue.
The illness is often associated with rabbits, hares, and other small mammals, which is where the nickname “rabbit fever” comes from. Historically, many cases involved hunters who became infected while handling rabbits after a hunt.
But hunting is only one possible pathway.
The bacteria do not spread from person to person, meaning someone with tularemia is not likely to pass it to family members, coworkers or friends through normal contact.
A Child’s Backyard Exposure Changed The Way Many People See The Disease
The case that brought the issue closer to home involved a nine-year-old Riverhead boy named John Detmer.
According to his family, his mother discovered a tick on his head in late April after he had been playing outside. The family’s yard included areas where wildlife, including rabbits, could be present, but there was no hunting trip or unusual outdoor activity involved.
After the tick bite, the boy developed symptoms including fever, swollen lymph nodes, body aches, and fatigue. His illness continued for weeks before doctors diagnosed him with tularemia around May 20.
He was treated with antibiotics, including doxycycline, but his family said some symptoms lasted even after treatment began.
Cases like his are part of the reason health officials continue reminding residents that ticks are not only a problem during camping trips or hikes. A backyard, playground or garden can provide enough exposure for a tick carrying the bacteria to come into contact with a person.
Tularemia is Rare Enough That Many Doctors Rarely See It
For many physicians, tularemia is something they study more often than they treat.
Dr. Bruce Hirsch, an infectious disease physician at Northwell’s North Shore Hospital, described the illness as extremely uncommon in everyday medical practice.
“Rabbit fever is really unusual,” Hirsch said. “I’ve been in infectious disease for a long period of time, and I see this diagnosis regularly on board examinations, not in the real world.”
That rarity can make diagnosis difficult.
The early symptoms of tularemia are not especially unique. Fever, fatigue and swollen lymph nodes can look like many other infections, which means doctors may not immediately suspect the disease unless there is a clue, such as a tick bite or animal exposure.
Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University Medical Center explained that the nickname “rabbit fever” comes from older cases involving hunters who handled infected rabbits and became exposed through cuts or contact with animal tissue.
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Modern cases, however, can happen in much less dramatic ways.
Four Cases Merit Observation, But Do Not Signal a Sudden Outbreak
The number of cases may sound alarming, but Suffolk County has seen several tularemia cases in recent years.
County records show one case in 2022, three in 2023, four in 2024 and six in 2025. Four cases so far this year fit within that recent pattern.
Tularemia remains uncommon across the United States. CDC data shows the country reported 2,462 tularemia cases between 2011 and 2022, averaging around 205 cases per year, with yearly totals ranging from 149 to 314 cases.
For a county with a population of more than one million people, four cases do not represent a widespread public health emergency. But they do reinforce a pattern researchers have been watching for years.
Why Suffolk County Appears so Often in Tularemia Research
Suffolk County’s connection to tularemia is not new.
A study published in the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases examined 30 tularemia cases reported across New York State outside New York City between 1993 and 2023. Researchers found that 13 of those cases, or 43%, came from Suffolk County.
The same research also detected Francisella tularensis in a group of nymph ticks collected in the county.
Scientists have not identified one single reason Suffolk County has recorded so many cases. The explanation may involve several factors, including local wildlife, tick populations, environmental conditions and how often doctors recognize and test for the illness.
What is clear is that the bacteria have been present in the area for years.
The Lesson From This Year’s Cases is Simple: Pay Attention to the Ordinary Things
The recent Suffolk County cases do not point to one single source of infection.
The Riverhead child’s case was linked to a tick bite. Another case involved a woman bitten by her infected outdoor cat. Officials have also discussed possible landscaping-related exposure in another case.
The variety of exposures is what makes tularemia difficult to predict.
The good news is that the infection can usually be treated successfully when doctors identify it. The challenge is recognizing it in the first place.
For residents, the message is not to avoid the outdoors. It is simply to be aware.
Check for ticks after spending time outside. Be careful around sick or dead wildlife. Pay attention to unusual symptoms after bites or animal contact.
Tularemia may still sound like an illness from another century, but Suffolk County’s latest cases show that it can appear in very ordinary places.
Have you ever found yourself dealing with a tick bite, unusual animal encounter, or outdoor health scare that made you look differently at your own backyard?
