NEW YORK, Mar 05 (Reuters Health) - While domesticated rabbits are popular as pets, a report in a medical journal highlights the fact that their wild counterparts can carry serious diseases.

In the February issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology, researchers outline the tale of an 18-year-old man who sought medical care after 4 days of severe swelling and tenderness of his left eye and upper eyelid. He also experienced a sustained fever, sweats, chills and headache. He told doctors that 3 weeks prior he had brought home a wild baby rabbit that ultimately died of unknown causes.

Although the rabbit could not be examined, Dr. Tom Oetting and his colleagues concluded that the patient's conjunctivitis and related problems most likely were caused by his exposure to the sick rabbit. The animal had likely been infected with Francisella tularensis--a bacterium that can cause the disease tularemia in humans. The doctors treated the man with streptomycin, which brings about full recovery almost 100% of the time.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wild cottontails, marsh rabbits and swamp rabbits present the greatest hazard for tularemia. The domestic rabbit is not a source of human tularemia.

Oetting told Reuters Health that this type of infection is rare. He also emphasized that certain tell-tale indications may signal such exposure.

"Fever, (muscle soreness), headache, neck ache, lymph nodes being swollen are all signs of infection--and in this boy's case he had an unusual form of conjunctivitis," the researcher noted.

"It typically comes from significant exposure--folks who might catch a rabbit and play with it...or someone who's skinned wild animals. The bottom line is not to handle wild rabbits and wild rodents in general," Oetting advised.

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