Francisella tularensis (PCR)

Puncture fluid or wound smear

Francisella tularensis is the causative agent of tularaemia ("rabbit plague") and has been reported in insects and ticks, as well as in birds, amphibians, reptiles, lagomorphs (e.g. rabbits), rodents, deer and humans (zoonosis).
Human infection is often caused by vectors (particularly ticks but also mosquitos, deer flies and horse-flies) and also through direct contact with infected wildlife or carcasses during hunting, skinning or slaughter. Infection is also possible via insufficently heated meat, contaminated food or water,and inhalation of contaminated dust or aerosols.


Depending on the point of pathogen entry (small skin wound, via the mouth, inhalation as an aerosol), different manifestations of the disease occur:
- External (localised) forms - entry points are small injuries in the skin, the conjunctiva of the eye or the mucous membranes of the nasopharynx: usually formation of ulcers at the entry point and regional lymphadenopathy.

- Internal (invasive) forms - if the pathogens are inhaled or spread via the bloodstream to internal organs: highly febrile, dangerous disease with a significantly higher mortality rate than the external forms (without antibiotic treatment, the mortality rate can be over 30 %). Inflammation of various organs or tissues (pneumonia, lung abscesses, meningitis, pericarditis, osteomyelitis, rhabdomyolysis) as well as abdominal pain and gastrointestinal complaints (vomiting, diarrhoea) can occur.