Three probable cases of tularemia reported in Suffolk County

In Suffolk County on Long Island, three people have contracted probable cases of tularemia — a rare bacterial illness carried by ticks and associated with rabbits — prompting health officials to issue public warnings. Though uncommon in New York, the clustering of cases within a single county and year signals that something in the local environment has created a window of exposure. It is a quiet reminder that the boundaries between human life and the wild world are never as fixed as we imagine, and that diseases long considered rare can resurface wherever those boundaries blur.