Health officials in Suffolk County said three probable cases of Rabbit fever have been reported this year, and laboratory testing can take several weeks before a diagnosis is finalized. That delay leaves people in Suffolk County relying on prevention advice now, while the county tracks cases during a bad tick season.
Tracey Detmer said her 9-year-old son John has suffered from the disease since April 28. She said she pulled a tick off his head after he had been playing in the yard at their home in Riverhead in Suffolk County.
Tracey Detmer and John
Detmer said the illness brought severe head and neck pain along with a 10-day fever. She said doctors needed multiple visits before an infectious disease specialist figured out that John had Rabbit fever. “You feel terrible, you truly, like, he'd be laying there crying at nighttime and like, there's nothing you can do, you feel terrible,” she said. “He was sick, he was truly so sick.”
She said the family’s yard frequently has wild rabbits visiting it, though John never gets close enough to touch them. “We never touched any of them, never, never got close to them because they run around,” she said. “But never in a million years would I think that my child would've been sick with rabbit fever.”
Suffolk County Department of Health
The Suffolk County Department of Health said the three cases are probable, not final, because “SCDHS currently has three probable cases of tularemia this year. Confirmation of a tularemia diagnosis requires a combination of laboratory testing and fulfillment of specific clinical or epidemiologic criteria. The laboratory testing to confirm a tularemia diagnosis may take several weeks.”
Dr. Sharon Nachman, division chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Stony Brook Children's Hospital, said the area of the bite often gives a visible clue. “The area of the bite forms an ulcer, and it's a relatively obvious ulcer,” she said. She also said, “We know how to diagnose it. And most importantly, we have great antibiotics to treat it. So, it's not a problem of diagnosis or treatment. It's really a question of who gets infected and why.”
Sharon Nachman on ticks
Nachman said the county’s tick season has been especially active. “Every year there's about 200 cases of tularemia,” she said. “So, it's not surprising that we would see some here on Long Island. The question that we're asking is why are we seeing perhaps more this year than in the past?”
She added, “We've had a very bad tick season this year. Is it because we had all that winter snow and we didn't kill off the tick eggs? Who knows? Are we in their environment? Absolutely.” The New York State Department of Health said it works with local health departments to provide guidance on prevention and treatment, and it said there are no cases in New York State in 2026.
For now, the county’s warning is simple: stay vigilant for ticks, especially as laboratory results work through the system. The numbers in Suffolk County put the focus on early recognition, because probable cases can move faster than final testing.
