It is transmitted to humans primarily through the skinning and cleaning of game animals, but it can also be transmitted to humans through the bites of ticks and deer flies, particularly during the summer. A Williamson Valley child developed symptoms of tularemia in August after being bitten by a blood-feeding insect, presumably a deer fly. Humans can also become infected when they eat insufficiently cooked game meat. In rare cases, tularemia can result from the bites of cats, dogs and other carnivores that have recently fed on infected animals. You should take similar precautions when preparing rabbits for cooking, and you should be sure to cook the meat thoroughly before serving.
Tularemia can be a severe disease, but it is curable with appropriate antibiotic therapy.
If these symptoms appear within two to 10 days after skinning game or being bitten by deer flies, see your doctor immediately. Near record summer rains helped the high country fishing outlook for this fall in the White Mountains and Mogollon Rim areas, advised Arizona Game and Fish Department officials. Prior to the fall fishing season, higher than normal precipitation during the summer monsoons resulted in very wet conditions in the White Mountains and Mogollon Rim area. Streams and rivers ran abnormally high in late July and August due to the heavy runoff. This reversed the dry and generally low water conditions the White Mountains and Rim area were experiencing earlier in the summer.