Human cases of "rabbit fever" have jumped this year

Health officials are seeing an increase of a rare illness called rabbit fever that was beaten back decades ago. In the last two decades, health officials saw an average of only about 125 cases each year of the illness — known to doctors as tularemia. But there have already been 235 cases this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. That’s the most since 1984. Officials aren’t sure why cases are up, but speculate that it may have to do with weather conditions that likely helped rodents — and the bacteria — thrive in certain states. Researchers at Texas Tech University have found evidence of the tularemia bacteria in feral hogs here in Texas. Read more at CBSNews…