A rare illness is prompting a public alert on Long Island. Health officials are sounding the alarm over a tick-borne disease commonly known as rabbit fever, after it sent a 9-year-old boy in Suffolk County to the hospital.
For one family, the ordeal has stretched on for months. The Detmers family, who live in Riverhead in Suffolk County, say they have been living a nightmare for the past three months, describing nights when the boy would lie there crying.
It began with something many parents would recognize. Back in late April, Tracy pulled a tick off her 9-year-old son John's head after he had been playing in the yard.
What followed was a frightening cascade of symptoms. Then came neck pain, legs hurting so badly that he could not walk, and a 10-day fever.
Doctors eventually pinned down the cause. An infectious disease specialist finally figured out it was tularemia, also known as rabbit fever, a rare but serious illness that can be transmitted to people by ticks from sick wild rabbits.
The numbers show just how unusual it is. There are only about 200 cases nationwide every year, and the Suffolk County Department of Health told Channel 7 it has three probable cases in the county, with the area of the bite forming a relatively obvious ulcer.
Despite the scare, doctors stress the outlook is good. Dr. Sharon Nachman, an infectious disease specialist with Stony Brook Children's, says the disease, while serious, is treatable, that they know how to diagnose it and have great antibiotics to treat it, and John is happy to be back playing sports even though his energy level still is not fully back, a recovery that could take weeks or months with no lasting long-term effects believed.