Riverhead woman becomes latest local ‘rabbit fever’ case after cat bite

A Riverhead woman has contracted the rare disease tularemia, commonly known as “rabbit fever,” after being bitten by her pet cat, the Riverhead News-Review has learned — adding another local case as Suffolk County investigates three probable infections likely linked to ticks.

Dr. Michael Huang, chief of infectious diseases at Peconic Bay Medical Center, said the woman is being treated for tularemia after her cat bit her while she was giving it medication about five days ago. The cat later died.

“We have a case right now in the hospital that has it in the blood,” Dr. Huang told the News-Review on Tuesday. “The cat bite looked OK. She was given medicine for a cat bite — a routine cat bite — and sent home. Then she got called back because she had bacteria in her blood that looked like tularemia.”

Dr. Huang said the infection has continued to progress since the initial diagnosis. Redness has spread up the woman’s arm and an ulcer is developing on one fingertip.

A Suffolk County Department of Health spokesperson did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.

The unidentified woman’s illness comes after Suffolk County health officials disclosed three probable tularemia cases last week, including a 9-year-old Riverhead boy believed to have contracted the disease from a tick bite. News 12 Long Island identified the Riverhead child as John Detmer and another patient as Ridge resident Dean Grunert. County health officials previously told the News-Review that laboratory confirmation of tularemia cases can take several weeks.

The Detmer family was told May 20 that their son had tested positive for tularemia after his mother removed a tick from his head on April 23, according to the outlet. He developed swollen lymph nodes and ran a fever for about 11 days.

He remains fatigued more than two months after his diagnosis despite completing two rounds of antibiotics, News 12 reported.

“I’m still hurting. I can go to sleep, but I just get really tired,” the boy told News 12.

The News-Review sought comment from the Detmer family but did not receive a response.

Tularemia — also known as “rabbit fever” — is a rare bacterial disease most commonly spread through American dog ticks and other tick species, but it can also be transmitted through deer flies or contact with infected animals. The illness can become life-threatening if left untreated but is generally treatable with antibiotics, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While tularemia is far rarer than tick-borne illnesses such as Lyme disease, it is not unheard of locally. Suffolk County recorded four cases in 2024, three in 2023 and one in 2022, according to the New York State Department of Health. About 200 human cases are reported nationwide each year, according to the CDC.

It is not typically spread from person to person, though Dr. Huang said transmission could occur through direct contact with infected tissue, such as caring for an open ulcer without disposable gloves.

“If cats go outside, they sometimes hunt animals. They could hunt sick animals like rodents, or even rabbits,” he said. “If the rabbit was sick and the cat got the rabbit, the rabbit will definitely die, but the cat will also succumb to it.”

Landscapers and others working outdoors may also face increased risk if they unknowingly mow over an infected animal, causing contaminated particles to become airborne, Dr. Huang said.

“If you get bitten by flies or have tick bites, definitely get medical attention,” Dr. Huang said. “If you have pneumonia in the middle of summer for no clear reason, get evaluated. Don’t touch any dead animals with your bare hands. Use gloves, use shovels, use caution.”

The cases come amid an unusually early and active tick season. Experts said that persistent snow cover may have helped more ticks survive the winter by insulating them from cold and dry conditions, the News-Review reported in May.

Tick bites accounted for 183 out of every 100,000 emergency-room visits in the Northeast in April, up sharply from 131 during the same month last year and the highest level for that time of year in nearly a decade, according to the CDC’s Tick Bite Data Tracker.

The elevated activity continued into June. Ticks began biting several weeks earlier than usual, while emergency-room visits for bites nationwide were running at the third-highest rate recorded during the past decade, CDC epidemiologist Alison Hinckley told NPR in mid-June.

“There’s a lot of information online about other tick-borne illnesses, but this one doesn’t get as much attention,” Dr. Huang said. “Most people associate ticks with Lyme disease.”