Tularemia From the Bite of a Nursling Kitten

The chief interest in this case is the unusual mode of contagion. A woman, aged 59, owned a female cat that had two nursling kittens. The cat had caught a rabbit and had eaten part of it. Within a few days the cat became ill and the kittens also appeared ill two days later. While trying to feed the kittens, the patient was bitten by one of them on the index finger. Both kittens died the following day but the cat slowly recovered. The patient had enjoyed good health all her life. Three days following the bite by the kitten, she developed headache, malaise and chilliness. On the fifth day the finger became red, swollen and painful. She had a hard chill and a fever of 103 F. Pain and streaks of erythema extended from the finger to the axilla. Large inflammatory glands appeared on the inner aspect.