title: Ecology of Tularemia in Central US Endemic Region.
abstract: Tularemia is a zoonotic disease that occurs in the Northern Hemisphere caused by the gammabacteriumFrancisella tularensis. The most severe form of human tularemia occurs in the central USA and involves a rabbit enzootic cycle, ixodid tick vectors, andF. tularensissubspeciestularensisgenotype A1. Enzootic tularemia is thought to have a spring-summer seasonality corresponding to the questing activity of its primary tick vectors. Domestic cats, another common incidental host, acquire the infection by preying on infected rabbits. The seasonality of tularemia in cats, which demonstrate a bimodal seasonal incidence curve with peaks in the spring and late summer-fall, may serve as a surrogate for the seasonality of the disease in its enzootic host. Human tularemia shows a unimodal late spring, early summer peak, which correlates to the seasonal questing activity of tick vectors of human tularemia. This difference in seasonality suggests that different tick species or tick life stages are involved in maintenance of the enzootic rabbit-tick cycle.
authors.affiliation: Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI USA.
authors.forename: Rinosh J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Mani
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Morton
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Clinkenbeard
keywords: Central USA; Ecology; Feline tularemia; Rabbit-tick cycle; Tularemia