Killed a few rabbits on JAN.22 (Sat) skinned and field dressed with gloves on in woods. Got home and was rinsing and quartering up, when I cut myself on my right thumb on a jagged part of the backbone. I was not thrilled, because when I was a kid my neighbor contacted "rabbit fever" and almost died. Thursday I started getting flu like symptoms and it was getting worse. Called the DR. and told them my symptoms and that I had cut myself cleaning a rabbit. They told me to come in immediately , I was so sick they offered me a wheelchair . I ended up in the ER. they took my blood. I threw up for 10-12 hours straight. Dr. put me on antibiotics for two weeks. I missed 7 days of work. the blood came back neg. for Rabbit fever . I started feeling better and went back to work, but felt very fatigued. 2 weeks later sick again, different dr.,different kind of blood test. He calls me Friday and tells me I am POSSITIVE for Tularemia. Please be careful when handling any wild animal. Anyone with a similar story ?  Thanks Craig

Wow...I hope everything turns out ok for u brother!

I have cut myself many times while field dressing deer and just continued on. Maybe I should be a bit more cautious!

Scary stuff! Hope all gets better for you. Take care out there folks.

Sorry to hear about your illness but thanks for posting.  I've never heard of this.

I have skinned many, many deer without gloves, heck don't even give it a thought. Bear and rabbits are another story.

WOW have'nt heard of that in a long long time. Hope you get well soon.

JAYZUS! Thanks for the heeding, just sorry that it had to come at your own personal cost! Hope you make a full recovery quickly!

Thanks guys, just a word of caution as well Lyme disease untreated can cause major, major health problems 15- 20 years down the road. Done some research and  the findings were scary to say the least. I had a small town physician once that if you were an outdoorsman and got ill he would treat for lyme to be safe.

sorry double post

Yikes.

Yeah I won't even touch a hog if I have cuts on my hands.  Scary stuff.

Dang the bad luck, I never heard of that before. Good luck!!!

Our season just ended for bunnies, but your warning is good.  Vinyl gloves would not protect fully from a bone prick.  Get well and thanks

Here's hoping your recovery is fast and complete.

I'm sorry to hear that. I've cut myself while cleaning them and been stuck with rabbit bones I don't know how many times over the years, with no ill effects. Just goes to show that you never know. I should be more careful. Hope you feel better soon, and thanks for the eye opener.

Bob

I never knew you could catch anything.  I guess that rabbit had the last laugh.. I am glad you caught it quick and are recovering. thank you for the heads up.