[Tularemia: are hunters really a risk group?]

The aim of this study was to investigate the tularemia seroprevalence among hunters mainly hunting in districts with emerging tularemia cases in Yozgat province located at the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. A total of 64 serum samples were collected from the subjects (all were male; age range: 18-67 years; mean age: 42.7 years) registered to Hunting and Shooting Clubs in Yozgat province and it's two districts, during January-April 2010 and anamnestic data were obtained using a questionnaire. The presence of Francisella tularensis antibodies in serum samples were screened by microagglutination test (MAT), and the positive samples were also confirmed by a commercial ELISA kit (Serazym, Germany). Four (6.3%) out of 64 were found to be seropositive for tularemia with titers of 1/160 in three cases, and 1/2560 in one case. All of the MAT positive samples yielded positive results with ELISA test and all seropositive cases had negative brucella agglutination result. No tularemia compatible clinical history were determined in two hunters with 1/160 antibody titer. However, one of the cases had defined symptoms consistent with oropharyngeal form. The hunter with 1/2560 antibody titer developed acute oropharyngeal tularemia and treated with 14 days of ciprofloxacin therapy. Evaluation of risk factors in seropositive cases revealed consumption of spring water as a risk factor. In conclusion, our results indicated a considerable exposure of hunters to F.tularensis in Yozgat province and reflected a high prevalence of the pathogen around Yozgat, which coincided with the high notification rate of tularemia in this region.