Second Suffolk family speaks out after rare tick-borne illness diagnosis
A Riverhead family is sharing their son's battle with the rare tick-borne illness tularemia as Suffolk County reports three probable cases this year.
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Another Long Island family is sharing their experience after a Tularemia diagnosis, adding to growing concern over the rare tick-borne illness in Suffolk County.
Health officials say there are now three probable cases of Tularemia, also known as Rabbit Fever, reported in Suffolk County this year.
Tracey Detmer of Riverhead says her 9-year-old son, John, was bitten by a tick on April 23. What followed was nearly a month of fevers, swollen glands, body aches and fatigue before doctors diagnosed him with Tularemia.
"Our infectious disease doctor said he's only seen it once in his whole career," Tracey Detmer said.
She says the diagnosis came as a surprise.
"We have so many wild rabbits in our yard all the time. Right away, I never thought in a million years it could have been that," she said.
Tracey Detmer says the Suffolk County Health Department later visited her family's home to search for additional ticks in the yard, but did not find any.
More than two months after his diagnosis, John says he is still recovering despite completing two rounds of doxycycline.
"I'm still hurting. I can go to sleep, but I just get really tired," he said.
The family's story comes after another Suffolk County resident from Ridge told News 12 he was also diagnosed with Tularemia.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 200 cases of Tularemia are reported in the United States each year.
Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook Children's Hospital, says people typically become infected when ticks carrying the bacteria feed on infected rabbits before biting humans.
"It's really the ticks, right around the rabbit when you are near them as well. That coincidence of illnesses really has to happen in a short frame of time," Nachman said.
The Suffolk County Health Department says confirming a tularemia diagnosis requires multiple laboratory tests and can take several weeks.
