CHAPTER 67: TULAREMIA

Tularemia is a zoonosis caused by Francisella tularensis. Humans of any age, sex, or race are universally susceptible to this systemic infection. Tularemia is primarily a disease of wild animals and persists in contaminated environments, ectoparasites, and animal carriers. Human infection is incidental and usually results from interaction with biting or blood-sucking insects, contact with wild or domestic animals, ingestion of contaminated water or food, or inhalation of infective aerosols. The illness is characterized by various clinical syndromes, the most common of which consists of an ulcerative lesion at the site of inoculation, with regional lymphadenopathy and lymphadenitis. Systemic manifestations, including pneumonia, typhoidal tularemia, meningitis, and fever without localizing findings, pose a greater diagnostic challenge.

F. tularensis is a class A bioterrorism agent (Chap. 10). With rare exceptions, tularemia is the only disease produced by F. tularensis—a small (0.2 μm by 0.2–0.7 μm), gram-negative, pleomorphic, nonmotile, non-spore-forming bacillus. Bipolar staining results in a coccoid appearance. The organism is a thinly encapsulated, nonpiliated strict aerobe that invades host cells. In nature, F. tularensis is a hardy organism that persists for weeks or months in mud, water, and decaying animal carcasses. Dozens of biting and blood-sucking insects, especially ticks and tabanid flies, serve as vectors. Ticks and wild rabbits are the source for most human cases in endemic areas of the southeastern United States. In Utah, Nevada, and California, tabanid flies are the most common vectors. Animal reservoirs include wild rabbits, squirrels, birds, sheep, beavers, muskrats, and domestic dogs and cats. Person-to-person transmission is rare or nonexistent.

The four subspecies of F. tularensis are tularensis, holarctica, novicida, and mediasiatica. The first three of these subspecies are found in North America; in fact, subspecies tularensis has been isolated only in North America, where it accounts for >70% of cases of tularemia and produces more serious human disease than other subspecies (although, with treatment, the associated fatality rate is <2%). The progression of illness depends on the infecting strain’s virulence, the inoculum size, the portal of entry, and the host’s immune status.

Ticks pass F. tularensis to their offspring transovarially. The organism is found in tick feces but not in large quantities in tick salivary glands. In the United States, the disease is carried by Dermacentor andersoni (Rocky Mountain wood tick), Dermacentor variabilis (American dog tick), Dermacentor occidentalis (Pacific Coast dog tick), and Amblyomma americanum (Lone Star tick). F. tularensis is transmitted frequently during blood meals taken by embedded ticks after hours of attachment. It is the taking of a blood meal through a fecally contaminated field that transmits the organism. Transmission by ticks and tabanid flies takes place mainly in the spring and summer. However, continued transmission in the winter by trapped or hunted animals has been documented.

Tularemia is most common in the southeastern United States; Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma account for more than half of all reported cases in this country. Small outbreaks in higher-risk populations (e.g., professional landscapers cutting up brush, mowing, and using a leaf blower) have been reported. Although the irregular distribution of cases of tularemia makes worldwide estimates difficult, increasing numbers of cases have been reported between latitudes 30° and 71°N (the Holarctic region) in the Northern Hemisphere. Cases of tularemia have been reported from Europe, Turkey, Canada, Mexico, and Asia. If the disease is caused by subspecies tularensis, the clinical manifestations are similar to those in the United States. However, in areas where tularemia is due largely to subspecies holarctica, oropharyngeal disease is common. Disease acquisition results from the consumption of water contaminated by live organisms shed by animals (e.g., muskrats, beavers). Subspecies holarctica is known to cause milder disease than other subspecies and responds well to fluoroquinolones, especially ciprofloxacin.

The most common portal of entry for human infection is through skin or mucous membranes, either directly—through the bite of ticks, other arthropods, or other animals—or via inapparent abrasions. Inhalation or ingestion of F. tularensis also can result in infection. F. tularensis is extremely infectious: Although >10⁸ organisms are usually required to produce infection via the oral route (oropharyngeal or gastrointestinal tularemia), as few as 10 organisms can result in infection when injected into the skin (ulceroglandular/glandular tularemia) or inhaled (pulmonary tularemia). After inoculation into the skin, the organism multiplies locally; within 2–5 days (range, 1–10 days), it produces an erythematous, tender, or pruritic papule. The papule rapidly enlarges and forms an ulcer with a black base (chancriform lesion). The bacteria spread to regional lymph nodes, producing lymphadenopathy (buboes). All forms can lead to bacteremia with spread to distant organs, including the central nervous system.

Tularemia is characterized by mononuclear cell infiltration with pyogranulomatous pathology. The histopathologic findings can be quite similar to those in tuberculosis, although tularemia develops more rapidly. As a facultatively intracellular bacterium, F. tularensis can parasitize both phagocytic and nonphagocytic host cells and can survive intracellularly for prolonged periods. In the acute phase of infection, the primary organs affected (skin, lymph nodes, liver, and spleen) include areas of focal necrosis, which are initially surrounded by polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs). Subsequently, granulomas form, with epithelioid cells, lymphocytes, and multinucleated giant cells surrounded by areas of necrosis. These areas may resemble caseation necrosis but later coalesce to form abscesses.

Conjunctival inoculation can result in infection of the eye, with regional lymph node enlargement (preauricular lymphadenopathy, Parinaud’s complex). Aerosolization and inhalation or hematogenous spread of organisms can result in pneumonia. In the lung, an inflammatory reaction develops, including foci of alveolar necrosis and cell infiltration (initially polymorphonuclear and later mononuclear) with granulomas. Chest roentgenograms usually reveal bilateral patchy infiltrates rather than large areas of consolidation. Pleural effusions are common and may contain blood. Lymphadenopathy occurs in regions draining infected organs. Therefore, in pulmonary infection, mediastinal adenopathy may be evident, whereas patients with oropharyngeal tularemia develop cervical lymphadenopathy. In gastrointestinal or typhoidal tularemia, mesenteric lymphadenopathy may follow the ingestion of large numbers of organisms. (The term typhoidal tularemia may be used to describe severe bacteremic disease, irrespective of the mode of transmission or portal of entry.) Meningitis has been reported as a primary or secondary manifestation of bacteremia. Patients may also present with fever and no localizing signs.

Although a complete and widely accepted understanding of the protective immune response to F. tularensis is lacking, significant advances in the study of natural and protective immunity have been made in recent years and may ultimately result in a vaccine candidate. Complete genomic sequencing and the availability of attenuated F. tularensis strains developed through genetic manipulation are facilitating research that will expand our knowledge in this area.

A number of investigators have studied various models and proposed various hypotheses regarding the induction of protective immunity to F. tularensis. Although further research is needed, synergy between humoral and cell-mediated immune (CMI) responses appears to be critical in inducing effective immune protection. Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms for the organism’s evasion of the host response, pathogen-associated molecular patterns, and effective host immune protection has led to novel vaccination strategies tested in animal models. Antibodies to Fc receptors on antigen-presenting cells have been shown to be protective in animal models of pulmonary tularemia, resulting in both mucosal and CMI responses. This enhanced understanding of mucosal and serum antibodies in combination with a targeted CMI response holds great promise for future vaccine development.

Tularemia often starts with a sudden onset of fever, chills, headache, and generalized myalgias and arthralgias (Table 67-1). This onset takes place when the organism penetrates the skin, is ingested, or is inhaled. An incubation period of 2–10 days is followed by the formation of an ulcer at the site of penetration, with local inflammation. The ulcer may persist for several months as organisms are transported via the lymphatics to the regional lymph nodes. These nodes enlarge and may become necrotic and suppurative. If the organism enters the bloodstream, widespread dissemination can result.

In the United States, most patients with tularemia (75–85%) acquire the infection by inoculation of the skin. In adults, the most common localized form is inguinal/femoral lymphadenopathy; in children, it is cervical lymphadenopathy. About 20% of patients develop a generalized maculopapular rash, which occasionally becomes pustular. Erythema nodosum occurs infrequently. The clinical manifestations of tularemia have been divided into various syndromes, which are listed in Table 67-2.

Ulceroglandular/glandular tularemia

These two forms of tularemia account for ~75–85% of cases. The predominant form in children involves cervical or posterior auricular lymphadenopathy and is usually related to tick bites on the head and neck. In adults, the most common form is inguinal/femoral lymphadenopathy resulting from insect and tick exposures on the lower limbs. In cases related to wild game, the usual portal of entry for F. tularensis is either an injury sustained while skinning or cleaning an animal carcass or a bite (usually on the hand). Epitrochlear lymphadenopathy/lymphadenitis is common in patients with bite-related injuries.

In ulceroglandular tularemia, the ulcer is erythematous, indurated, and nonhealing, with a punched-out appearance that lasts 1–3 weeks. The papule may begin as an erythematous lesion that is tender or pruritic; it evolves over several days into an ulcer with sharply demarcated edges and a yellow exudate. The ulcer gradually develops a black base, and simultaneously the regional lymph nodes become tender and severely enlarged (Fig. 67-1). The affected lymph nodes may become fluctuant and drain spontaneously, but the condition usually resolves with effective treatment. Late suppuration of lymph nodes has been described in up to 25% of patients with ulceroglandular/glandular tularemia. Examination of material taken from these late fluctuant nodes after successful antimicrobial treatment reveals sterile necrotic tissue. In 5–10% of patients, the skin lesion may be inapparent, with lymphadenopathy plus systemic signs and symptoms the only physical findings (glandular tularemia). Conversely, a tick or deerfly bite on the trunk may result in an ulcer without evident lymphadenopathy.

Oculoglandular tularemia

In ~1% of patients, the portal of entry for F. tularensis is the conjunctiva, which the organism usually reaches through contact with contaminated fingers. The inflamed conjunctiva is painful, with numerous yellowish nodules and pinpoint ulcers. Purulent conjunctivitis with regional lymphadenopathy (preauricular, submandibular, or cervical) is evident. Because of debilitating pain, the patient may seek medical attention before regional lymphadenopathy develops. Painful preauricular lymphadenopathy is unique to tularemia and distinguishes it from tuberculosis, sporotrichosis, and syphilis. Corneal perforation may occur.

Oropharyngeal and gastrointestinal tularemia

Rarely, tularemia follows ingestion of contaminated undercooked meat, oral inoculation of F. tularensis from the hands in association with the skinning and cleaning of animal carcasses, or consumption of contaminated food or water. Oral inoculation may result in acute, exudative, or membranous pharyngitis associated with cervical lymphadenopathy or in ulcerative intestinal lesions associated with mesenteric lymphadenopathy, diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and gastrointestinal bleeding. Infected tonsils become enlarged and develop a yellowish-white pseudomembrane, which can be confused with that of diphtheria. The clinical severity of gastrointestinal tularemia varies from mild, unexplained, persistent diarrhea with no other symptoms to a fulminant, fatal disease. In fatal cases, the extensive intestinal ulceration found at autopsy suggests an enormous inoculum.

Pulmonary tularemia

Pneumonia due to F. tularensis presents as variable parenchymal infiltrates that are unresponsive to treatment with β-lactam antibiotics. Tularemia must be considered in the differential diagnosis of atypical pneumonia in a patient with a history of travel to an endemic area. The disease can result from inhalation of an infectious aerosol or can spread to the lungs and pleura via bacteremia. Inhalation-related pneumonia has been described in laboratory workers after exposure to contaminated materials and, if untreated, can be associated with a relatively high mortality rate. Exposure to F. tularensis in aerosols from live domestic animals or dead wildlife (including birds) has been reported to cause pneumonia. Hematogenous dissemination to the lungs occurs in 10–15% of cases of ulceroglandular tularemia and in about half of cases of typhoidal tularemia. Previously, tularemia pneumonia was thought to be a disease of older patients, but as many as 10–15% of children with clinical manifestations of tularemia have parenchymal infiltrates detected by chest roentgenography. Patients with pneumonia usually have a nonproductive cough and may have dyspnea or pleuritic chest pain. Roentgenograms of the chest usually reveal bilateral patchy infiltrates (described as ovoid or lobar densities), lobar parenchymal infiltrates, and cavitary lesions. Pleural effusions may have a predominance of mononuclear leukocytes or PMNs and sometimes red blood cells. Empyema may develop. Blood cultures may be positive for F. tularensis.

Typhoidal tularemia

The typhoidal presentation is now considered rare in the United States. The source of infection in typhoidal tularemia is usually associated with pharyngeal and/or gastrointestinal inoculation or bacteremic disease. Fever usually develops without apparent skin lesions or lymphadenopathy. Some patients have cervical and mesenteric lymphadenopathy. In the absence of a history of possible contact with a vector, diagnosis can be extremely difficult. Blood cultures may be positive and patients may present with classic sepsis or septic shock in this acute systemic form of the infection. Typhoidal tularemia is usually associated with a huge inoculum or with a preexisting compromising condition. High continuous fevers, signs of sepsis, and severe headache are common. The patient may be delirious and may develop prostration and shock. If presumptive antibiotic therapy in culture-negative cases does not include an aminoglycoside, the estimated mortality rate is relatively high.

Other manifestations

F. tularensis infection has been associated with meningitis, pericarditis, hepatitis, peritonitis, endocarditis, osteomyelitis, and sepsis and septic shock with rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure. In cases of tularemia meningitis, a mean white blood cell count of 1788/μL, a predominantly mononuclear cell response (70–100%), a depressed glucose level, an elevated protein concentration, and a negative Gram’s stain are typically found on examination of cerebrospinal fluid.

When patients in endemic areas present with fever, chronic ulcerative skin lesions, and large tender lymph nodes (Fig. 67-1), a diagnosis of tularemia should be made presumptively, and confirmatory diagnostic testing and appropriate therapy should be undertaken. When the possibility of tularemia is considered in a nonendemic area, an attempt should be made to identify contact with a potential animal vector. The level of suspicion should be especially high in hunters, trappers, game wardens, professional landscapers, veterinarians, laboratory workers, and individuals exposed to an insect or another animal vector. However, up to 40% of patients with tularemia have no known history of epidemiologic contact with an animal vector.

The characteristic presentation of ulceroglandular tularemia does not pose a diagnostic problem, but a less classic progression of regional lymphadenopathy or glandular tularemia must be differentiated from other diseases (Table 67-3). The skin lesion of tularemia may resemble those seen in various other diseases but is generally accompanied by more impressive regional lymphadenopathy. In children, the differentiation of tularemia from cat-scratch disease is made more difficult by the chronic papulovesicular lesion associated with Bartonella henselae infection (Chap. 69). Oropharyngeal tularemia can resemble and must be differentiated from pharyngitis due to other bacteria or viruses. Pulmonary tularemia may resemble any atypical pneumonia. Typhoidal tularemia and tularemia meningitis may resemble a variety of other infections.

The diagnosis of tularemia is most frequently confirmed by agglutination testing. Microagglutination and tube agglutination are the techniques most commonly used to detect antibody to F. tularensis. In the standard tube agglutination test, a single titer of ≥1:160 is interpreted as a presumptive positive result. A fourfold increase in titer between paired serum samples collected 2–3 weeks apart is considered diagnostic. False-negative serologic responses are obtained early in infection; up to 30% of patients infected for 3 weeks have sera that test negative. Late in infection, titers into the thousands are common, and titers of 1:20–1:80 may persist for years. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays have proved useful for the detection of both antibodies and antigens.

Culture and isolation of F. tularensis are difficult. In one study, the organism was isolated in only 10% of more than 1000 human cases, 84% of which were confirmed by serology. The medium of choice is cysteine-glucose-blood agar. F. tularensis can be isolated directly from infected ulcer scrapings, lymph node biopsy specimens, gastric washings, sputum, and blood cultures. Colonies are blue-gray, round, smooth, and slightly mucoid. On media containing blood, a small zone of α hemolysis usually surrounds the colony. Slide agglutination tests or direct fluorescent antibody tests with commercially available antisera can be applied directly to culture suspensions for identification. Most clinical laboratories will not attempt to culture F. tularensis because of the infectivity of the organism from the culture media and the consequent risk of a laboratory-acquired infection. Although tularemia is not spread from person to person, the organism can be inhaled from culture plates and infect unsuspecting laboratory workers. In most clinical laboratories, biosafety level 2 practices are recommended to handle clinical specimens thought to contain F. tularensis; however, biosafety level 3 conditions are required for procedures that produce aerosols or droplets during manipulation of cultures containing or possibly containing this organism.

A variety of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods have been used to detect F. tularensis DNA in many clinical specimens but mostly in ulceroglandular disease. The majority of these methods target the genes encoding outer-membrane proteins (e.g., fopA or tul4). A 16S rDNA sequence identification PCR may be helpful when the patient’s clinical information does not lead the clinician to suspect a diagnosis of tularemia.

If tularemia goes untreated, symptoms usually last 1–4 weeks but may continue for months. The mortality rate from severe untreated infection (including all cases of untreated pulmonary and typhoidal tularemia) can be as high as 30%. However, the overall mortality rate for untreated tularemia is <8%. With appropriate treatment, the mortality rate is <1%. Poor outcomes are often associated with long delays in diagnosis and treatment. Lifelong immunity usually follows tularemia.

The prevention of tularemia is based on avoidance of exposure to biting and blood-sucking insects, especially ticks and deerflies. A wide range of approaches to vaccine development are being evaluated, but no vaccine against tularemia is yet licensed. Prophylaxis of tularemia has not proved effective in patients with embedded ticks or insect bites. However, in patients who are known to have been exposed to large quantities of organisms (e.g., in the laboratory) and who have incubating infection with F. tularensis, early treatment can prevent the development of significant clinical disease.