Prevention

When hiking, camping or working outdoors:

• Use insect repellents containing 20% to 30% DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide), picaridin or IR3535. EPA provides information on the proper use of repellents.
• Wear long pants, long sleeves, and long socks to keep ticks and deer flies off your skin.
• Remove attached ticks promptly with fine-tipped tweezers.
• Don’t drink untreated surface water.

When mowing or landscaping:

• Don’t mow over sick or dead animals.  When possible, check the area for carcasses prior to mowing.
• Use of masks during mowing and other landscaping activities may reduce your risk of inhaling the bacteria, but this has not been studied.

If you hunt, trap or skin animals:

• Use gloves when handling animals, especially rabbits, muskrats, prairie dogs, and other rodents.
• Cook game meat thoroughly before eating.

Until recently, a vaccine has been available to protect laboratorians routinely working with Francisella tularensis. This vaccine is currently under review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is not generally available in the United States.