The Suffolk County Department of Health Services has confirmed a fourth case of tularemia this year, the bacterial infection commonly called rabbit fever. Officials have not confirmed how the person was infected.
Four confirmed cases is a notable number for a county that counts these infections in single digits, but it is not unprecedented. Dr. Gregson Pigott, the county health commissioner, has pointed out that tularemia has been reported in Suffolk for several years. County figures show six confirmed cases in 2025, four in 2024, three in 2023 and one in 2022. This year's total currently sits at the upper end of that recent range rather than outside it.
