According to the Suffolk County Department of Health: "SCDHS currently has three probable cases of Tularemia this year. Confirmation of a tularemia diagnosis requires a combination of laboratory testing and fulfilment of specific clinical or epidemiologic criteria. The laboratory testing to confirm a tularemia diagnosis may take several weeks."
Tracey Detmer said her 9-year-old son John has suffered the effects of the disease since April 28. She pulled a tick off his head after he'd been playing in the yard.
"You feel terrible, you truly, like, he'd be laying there crying at nighttime and like, there's nothing you can do, you feel terrible," Detmer said. "He was sick, he was truly so sick."
The Detmers live in Riverhead in Suffolk County and frequently have wild rabbits visit their yard, though Tracey said John never gets close enough to touch them.
"We never touched any of them, never, never got close to them because they run around," she said. "But never in a million years would I think that my child would've been sick with rabbit fever."
Detmer said her son suffered from severe head and neck pain, along with a 10-day fever. She said they went to the doctor multiple times before an infectious disease specialist finally figured out that John had Tularemia. It's considered by doctors to be a rare but serious illness that can be transmitted to people by ticks and flies from sick, wild rabbits.
There are only about 200 cases nationwide every year.
"The area of the bite forms an ulcer, and it's a relatively obvious ulcer," said Dr. Sharon Nachman, Division Chief, Pediatric Infectious Disease, Stony Brook Children's. "We know how to diagnose it. And most importantly, we have great antibiotics to treat it. So, it's not a problem of diagnosis or treatment. It's really a question of who gets infected and why."
Nachman said this tick season has been particularly bad in Suffolk County.
"Every year there's about 200 cases of tularemia," Nachman said. "So, it's not surprising that we would see some here in Long Island. The question that we're asking is why are we seeing perhaps more this year than in the past?" We've had a very bad tick season this year. Is it because we had all that winter snow and we didn't kill off the tick eggs? Who knows? Are we in their environment? Absolutely."
The New York State Department of Health also sent a statement to Eyewitness News about the disease: "The New York State Department of Health takes the spread of diseases seriously and works with local health departments to provide guidance on prevention and treatment."
There are no confirmed cases in New York State in 2026. Please refer additional questions to the Suffolk County Department of Health Services.
Additional information:
Nachman said there's no quick fix, and it could take weeks or months to feel better, as is the case with John, who is still feeling tired three months after the tick bite.
Nachman also said prevention is key, wearing long sleeves, long pants and gloves to keep ticks off your body and staying away from sick or dead wild rabbits.
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