WEST TISBURY, Mass. – Outdoor work, such as landscaping, in Massachusetts' fabled Martha's Vineyard has become dangerous to workers’ health. Rabbit fever, a rare and sometimes fatal tick-borne disease, has residents and visitors to Martha’s Vineyard rushing to buy dust masks and insect repellent.
The outbreak of nine confirmed cases, four more probable cases and the death of a 43-year-old landscape contractor in late August caused state and local health officials to issue an alert advising landscape contractors and weekend gardeners to be vigilant, according to the Associated Press.
"We first became aware of seven cases of rabbit fever in the first two weeks of July," said Dr. Alfred DeMaria Jr., director of communicable disease control at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came up then, and we determined that there was no common exposure experiences, except that three or four of the cases happened in full- or part-time landscapers."
The rest of July was quiet. "Then something happened and we heard about several possible cases in the first two weeks of August," DeMaria explained. "Two of those three cases were confirmed, and so we developed and disseminated a press release and a health alert."
BIGGER RISK FOR OUTDOORS PEOPLE. Rabbit fever – the more commonly known name for tularemia – occurs throughout the United States in all months of the year. Caused by the bacterium Francisella tularemsis, the disease can be found in all sorts of wild animals, but rabbits seem to be the main carrier. The bacteria are also found in ticks and deerflies. People who spend a lot of time outdoors seem to be at greater risk for exposure.
The bite of an infected tick is the most common route of infection, DeMaria said. And you can get the disease from skinning or eating a rabbit, even if the meat has been frozen for several years. People who breathe contaminated soil or dust thrown around from mowing over a dead rabbit, for instance, can get a pneumonia form of the disease.
"We know that we have one possible tick-associated case, but tick bites are often very small, so we are not quite sure," DeMaria said. "We do not know the source of the disease in the other cases, even in those who had the pneumonia form of the disease. It could have been from dust inhalation or from other sources. But there is not a lot of evidence for dust. It is not traditionally considered a risk here."
Swollen glands, a throat infection, stomach pain and vomiting accompany a tularemia infection. Inhaling the bug may produce a fever or pneumonia. Symptoms generally appear two to 20 days after exposure. The disease is usually cured with common antibiotics.
The following is a Sept. 7, 2000, article that appeared on www.FoxNews.com:
Nine Ill, One Dead From Rare Disease
MARTHA'S VINEYARD, Mass. – It was just after Memorial Day that landscaper Artie Gassert came down with a splitting headache and abdominal pains. He thought it was the flu.
"It had gotten so bad with my stomach and my head," said Gassert. "I went to touch my hair and I couldn't touch my hair; my head was exploding."
But Gassert's symptoms were not caused by a virus, but by bacteria found in the most innocent-looking culprits: bunnies.
Gassert was suffering from a rare infectious disease called Tularemia. On Martha's Vineyard, doctors usually treat about two cases a year, but this summer there's been 10 and one of them fatal.
"It's an unusual disease because you can get exposed to it in a lot of different ways," said Dr. Bela Matyas of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Usually Tularemia is spread through handling infected rabbits or being bitten by infected dog-ticks. But on Martha's Vineyard, the island getaway of dignitaries like the Kennedys and President Clinton, most of the victims appear to have inhaled airborne bacteria.
"You get up in the morning, you put on your sun screen so you don't get skin cancer, you spray yourself with [insect repellant] so you don't get Lyme disease, and now you have to wear a respirator so you don't get Tularemia," said landscaper Dave Demoe.
This week officials from the Centers for Disease Control are taking soil samples and testing animals on the island to determine how many are infected and how to prevent an outbreak in the future.
Fox News' Alisyn Camerota contributed to this report.