ABSTRACT
Tularemia is an infectious disease caused by the Gram-negative bacterium, Francisella tularensis. The rst observed clinical cases were seen in Japan in 1837, where people eating meat from rabbits developed fever, chills, and glandular tumors [1]. In 1911, the disease was rst described in the United States as a plague-like illness in ground squirrels by Dr. Edward Francis, Tulare County, California. Three years later, the rst human case of tularemia in the United States occurred in a butcher [2]. Dr. Francis, after whom the microorganism was named, characterized the clinical signs, symptoms, and the mode of transmission after infection.
