Lafayette Resident Tests Positive for Tularemia After Mowing Lawn


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Contact: Chana Goussetis, cgoussetis@bouldercounty.org, 303.441.1457

Lafayette Resident Tests Positive for Tularemia After Mowing Lawn

 

Residents should take precautions when gardening or landscaping.

 

Boulder, CO – A Lafayette resident tested positive for tularemia after mowing their lawn and gardening and subsequently developed symptoms of high fever, headache, and general malaise. The resident did not survive, due to other medical complications.

 

Boulder County Public Health officials will be posting warning signs in the area to alert residents of the risks of tularemia.

 

This is the first Boulder County resident to test positive for the tularemia this year. Three people have tested positive for the disease in Colorado so far this year; each one had recently been gardening and/or landscaping.

 

“There has been a significant increase in tularemia activity in the past few years,” said Carol Helwig, Boulder County Public Health Communicable Disease Control Program Coordinator. “In the five year period prior to 2014, on average, there were fewer than 3 cases each year in Colorado. There had not been a case of tularemia reported in Boulder County since 2007, when just one case was reported.”

 

In 2014, 16 people tested positive for the disease in Colorado; five were Boulder County residents.

 

“We’re concerned that this will be another active year because tularemia persists in the environment and can survive the winter months,” said Lane Drager, Boulder County Public Health Consumer Protection Program Coordinator. “The wet weather also creates more vegetation that provides more food for animal populations. With more animals in our environment, it’s more likely that some of them will carry and spread the disease.”

 

People become infected with tularemia through skin contact with infected animal tissue or through the bite of infected insects, most commonly ticks and deer flies. The bacteria can also be inhaled when infected animal tissue is broken up into small particles and spread in the air, such as when an infected carcass is mowed over.

 

“Illness from tularemia can be very painful and often requires care in the hospital. For those with other health problems, it can be deadly,” said Helwig. “The best protection is to avoid coming in contact with wildlife.”

 

Symptoms of tularemia include an abrupt onset of fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, joint pain, dry cough, difficulty breathing, bloody sputum, and respiratory failure. Symptoms also include skin ulcers, swollen and painful lymph glands, inflamed eyes, sore throat, mouth sores, diarrhea, or pneumonia. Tularemia is treatable when detected early.

 

Tularemia is often overlooked as a diagnosis because it is rare, and the symptoms are similar to other diseases. Public health officials recommend that anyone who becomes ill after possible exposure to a sick or dead animal should ask their health care providers about the possibility of tularemia.

 

Public health officials recommend the following precautions:

  • Avoid all contact with wild animals or rodents, including voles, squirrels and rabbits; do not feed or handle them. If an animal carcass must be moved, place it in a garbage bag using a long-handled shovel, and place the bag in an outdoor garbage can.
  • Do not wear sandals or walk barefoot in an area where animals have been seen sick or dead. The tularemia bacteria can persist in the environment, such as soil and water, for several months after it is detected.
  • Stay out of areas inhabited by wild animals or rodents. If you must enter areas frequented by wild rodents, always wear insect repellent that is effective against ticks, biting flies, and mosquitoes and contains DEET or oil of lemon eucalyptus.
  • Do not mow over animals carcasses, and use a dust mask when mowing or doing landscape work.
  • Prevent pets from hunting or eating wild rodents or rabbits. Infected pets, such as cats, may in turn transmit the disease to people. Contact a veterinarian if a pet becomes ill with a high fever and/or swollen lymph nodes.

 Seven animals have tested positive for the disease in Colorado this year; 38 animals tested positive in 2014. In Boulder County in 2014, 4 animals, including two mice, one rabbit, and one vole tested positive for tularemia; none have tested positive so far this year.

 

In the United States, human cases of tularemia have been reported from every state except Hawaii, with the majority occurring in south-central and western states.

 

For more information about tularemia, visit www.cdc.gov/tularemia or call the Boulder County Health Information Line at 303.441.1460.

 

To report an animal die-off (two or more animals found in the same area at the same time) in Boulder County, call 303.441.1564.

 

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