Small, gram negative pleomorphic rods. Enter body via small cuts and abrasions or by rubbing the eyes after handling wild animals. Produce local ulcer, then spread to rest of body via the lymphatics. Can produce septicemia, pneumonia and abcesses throughout the body. 2.Animal reservoirs, mainly rabbits.
Humans acquire disease by eating undercooked meat or by rubbing the eyes after handling animals.
Can also be spread by the bits of arthropods such as deer flies, ticks or lice 4. Need prolonged administration, especially because the bacteria survive within many different kinds of cells including phagocytes 5. Transmitted by handling infected carcasses, drinking unpasteurized milk. Organsims grow inside phagocytes, produce chronic disease, difficult to get rid of. Fever, chills, weakness, aching.