Public health officials recommend the following precautions to reduce the risk of exposure to tularemia: • Wear shoes and gloves when gardening or working outside. Always wash hands after outdoor activities. • Avoid mowing over animal carcasses, and consider using a dust mask when mowing or doing landscape work if you have seen rabbits or rodents in your yard. • Never touch sick or dead animals with your bare hands. If the animal must be moved, place it in a garbage bag using a long-handled shovel, and place the bag in an outdoor garbage can. • Avoid all contact with wild animals such as squirrels and rabbits; do not feed or handle them. Prevent your pets from eating wildlife. •Wear an insect repellent effective against ticks, biting flies and mosquitoes. • See a health care provider if you become ill with a high fever and/or swollen lymph nodes. • Contact a veterinarian if your pet becomes ill. For more information about tularemia, visit www.cdc.gov/tularemia. To report an animal die-off (three or more animals found in one area) in the City and County of Broomfield, call 720-887-2220.

A case of tularemia, a disease that affects animals and humans and is caused by bacteria, has been confirmed for one Broomfield resident.

When gardening this summer, Broomfield health officials suggest wearing shoes, gloves and maybe even a dusk mask.

Tularemia is not known to be spread from person to person, but people can become infected by breathing in the bacteria, contact with contaminated soil, handling infected animal carcasses, being bitten by an infected tick, deerfly or other insect or by eating or drinking contaminated food or water.

“People should take precautions when gardening or landscaping because when a person mows, blows leaves, or turns up the soil, the bacteria can be aerosolized and inhaled,” Jason Vahling, Broomfield County public health director, said.

Broomfield Public Health and Environment worked with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to confirm the positive test.

Tularemia is caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis, and although it’s a potentially serious disease, it is treatable with common antibiotics, according to a release from local public health officials.

The Broomfield resident has been treated after being evaluated by a health care provider and is recovering, health officials said.

Between Jan 1, 2005 through May 31, 2016, only one human case was reported in Broomfield, according to the CDPHE website. Vahling said the first case was reported in 2014, and the second case this month.

“In recent years, there has been a significant increase in cases believed to be the result of exposure to bacteria contaminated soil,” said Jason Vahling.

In 2015, 52 cases of human tularemia were reported in Colorado, more than 10 times the typical number of 0-4 cases reported annually from 1954 to 2013.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, this is the third reported human case of tularemia in Colorado this year, and a fourth is under investigation.

“Depending on the exposure, symptoms may include: abrupt onset of fever, skin ulcers, swollen and painful lymph glands, inflamed eyes, sore throat, mouth sores, diarrhea, or pneumonia. Patients can also have chills, headache, muscle aches, cough, or difficulty breathing,” the release states.

Symptoms usually appear three to five days after exposure to the bacteria, but can take as long as 14 days to appear.

In the past, the message in Broomfield was more about advising residents not to touch wild animals that were dead or possibly sick.

“This year we’re really trying to emphasize the contaminated soil,” Vahling said.

Although they cannot pinpoint where the infected resident came into contact with the bacteria, they conducted a disease control investigation and believe it was through contaminated soil.

They caution residents not to mow over dead carcasses, wear shoes in the garden and wash hands after.

“We’re trying to get out the message of universal precautions,” he said. “It could be similar to West Nile. You don’t know which mosquitoes may be carrying West Nile, so we always tell people to take the appropriate precautions.”

According to Jennifer House, CDPHE Epidemiological Veterinarian, the most common symptom of Tularemia in house pets is a fever. If your pet has a fever, you should bring them to the veterinarian to be evaluated.

Jennifer Rios: 303-473-1361, riosj@broomfieldenterprise.com or Twitter.com/Jennifer_Rios