Rabbit fever hits Thailand

Today Online 19 Mar 08;

BANGKOK — There is an emerging disease in Thailand – rabbit fever or tularemia, The Bangkok Post reported yesterday.

The director-general of the Disease Control Department, Mr Thawat Sundarachan, said the first victim was a 37-year-old woman who died in Kui Buri district, south of the capital, in October last year. Dr Thawat said the woman had been suffering from cancer, and that the cancer might have made her too weak to fight the disease.

The Thai government has dismissed concerns about an outbreak and urged the public not to panic over the news of the woman's death.

The woman reportedly kept many rabbits in her house and could have been infected by Francisella tularensis, the bacterium that causes the disease, through inhaling the breath or coming into contact with the bodily secretions of her infected pets.

Rabbit fever is a disease borne by rodents and rabbits that is typically found in North America and Europe.

The Bangkok Post reported that humans could also be infected by eating the meat of infected animals and by being bitten by fleas from infected animals.

Dr Thawat was quoted by the newspaper as saying rabbit fever could be cured with antibiotics only if patients see the doctor soon enough. Symptoms of the disease include fever, diarrhoea or swollen lymph nodes.

There is no threat of human-to-human transmission, Dr Thawat said.

Thailand has asked its Livestock Development Department to test animals randomly nationwide, and educate both the public and doctors on the disease as it is not covered in local medical textbooks.

When contacted by Today, Mr Goh Shih Yong, the assistant director of corporate communications for Singapore's Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA), said: "The disease has not been detected by AVA in animals in Singapore."