Weld County health officials are urging vigilance after by tularemia, also known as rabbit fever, in the past five weeks.
“This is unusual,” Eric Aakko, spokesman for the county’s Department of Public Health and Environment, said. “Usually we don’t have any cases in a given year.”
The health department says the men sickened are between 56- and 80-years-old and are from Greeley, Erie, LaSalle, Milliken and Longmont.
“Of the five men, two were hospitalized and three recovered at home,” health officials said Tuesday in a news release. “One man remains hospitalized, but is in stable condition.”
Authorities believe the men were most likely exposed to tularemia while mowing their lawns or working in their yards.
Statewide, Colorado currently has 16 human tularemia cases. In an average year, are typically infected, the release said.
A Boulder County resident who contracted tularemia last month after doing yardwork . That person’s case was the first in Boulder County this year.
Health officials say tularemia can be avoided by wearing gloves while gardening or landscaping, using a dust mask when mowing or doing yard work, disposing of animal carcasses by using a long-handled shovel to place them in a garbage bag and wearing insect repellent when outdoors.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul
