Tularemia in Grand Rapids: Symptoms, Causes, and Prevention

Tularemia in Grand Rapids, Michigan

If you spend time outdoors around Grand Rapids, whether hiking near the Grand River, hunting in Kent County, or mowing your yard, it helps to know about tularemia. This bacterial disease can spread through tick and deer fly bites and contact with wild animals, both of which are part of life during West Michigan’s warmer months. Tularemia has been reported in nearly every U.S. state, so understanding how to protect yourself and your family is worthwhile. The good news: most infections can be treated successfully with antibiotics.

What Is Tularemia?

Tularemia is a disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis, which can infect both animals and people. Rabbits, hares, and rodents are especially susceptible to it.

While tularemia can be life-threatening, most infections are treated successfully with antibiotics. Naturally occurring infections have been reported in every U.S. state except Hawaii, including Michigan.

One reassuring fact: tularemia does not spread from person to person. Transmission between people has never been reported, and patients do not need to be isolated.

How People Get Tularemia

People most often get tularemia from the bites of infected ticks and deer flies. The ticks involved include the dog tick, wood tick, and lone star tick, all of which can be found in Michigan.

Other ways the bacteria can spread include:

• Skin contact with infected animals, especially while hunting or skinning rabbits, muskrats, prairie dogs, and other rodents.
• Inhaling dust or aerosols containing the bacteria, for example while mowing or landscaping over an infected animal carcass. This can cause the pneumonic (lung) form.
• Drinking untreated, contaminated water, which can cause the oropharyngeal (mouth and throat) form.

Symptoms to Watch For

Symptoms vary depending on how a person was exposed, but most forms begin with a sudden fever.

The different forms of tularemia include:

• Ulceroglandular (the most common): a skin ulcer at the bite or contact site, along with swollen, tender lymph nodes.
• Glandular: swollen lymph nodes without an ulcer.
• Oculoglandular: eye irritation and swelling after the bacteria enter through the eye.
• Oropharyngeal: sore throat and mouth ulcers from eating or drinking contaminated food or water.
• Pneumonic: cough, chest pain, and difficulty breathing. This is one of the most severe forms.

How Tularemia Is Treated

Tularemia is treated with antibiotics. Those commonly used include streptomycin, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, or doxycycline.

It is important to know that beta-lactam antibiotics, such as penicillins and cephalosporins, are not effective against tularemia. This is one reason getting an accurate diagnosis matters. If you tell your healthcare provider about recent tick or deer fly bites or contact with wild animals, it can help guide the right treatment.

Preventing Tularemia in West Michigan

Because ticks and deer flies are active outdoors during Michigan’s spring, summer, and fall, prevention starts with avoiding bites.

To lower your risk:

• Use EPA-registered insect repellents, such as those containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, PMD, or 2-undecanone.
• Wear long sleeves, long pants, and socks when in wooded or grassy areas.
• Remove attached ticks promptly.

When handling animals or working outdoors:

• Avoid handling sick or dead animals.
• Wear gloves when skinning or handling wild animals.
• Cook wild game meat thoroughly.
• Do not mow over sick or dead animals.
• Do not drink untreated surface water, including from lakes, rivers, and streams.

There is no licensed vaccine currently available in the United States, so these everyday precautions are your best protection.

When to See a Healthcare Provider

See a healthcare provider promptly if you develop a sudden fever, a skin ulcer, swollen lymph nodes, or other symptoms after a tick or deer fly bite, or after contact with wild animals.

In Grand Rapids and Kent County, you can seek care through systems such as Corewell Health, Trinity Health Grand Rapids, University of Michigan Health-West, or Cherry Health. For public health questions and community guidance, residents can contact the Kent County Health Department.

If you experience a medical emergency, such as severe difficulty breathing, call 911 right away.

Key Points to Remember

• Tularemia is caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis and can be life-threatening, but it is usually treatable with antibiotics.
• It spreads mainly through tick and deer fly bites and contact with infected wild animals, not from person to person.
• Most forms start with a sudden fever; the most common form causes a skin ulcer and swollen lymph nodes.
• Use insect repellent, cover up outdoors, wear gloves around wild animals, and avoid untreated water.
• See a Grand Rapids healthcare provider promptly if symptoms appear after a bite or animal contact.