So far 17 cases of rabbit plague – and eleven people are infected

The sick or dead animals were also found in districts in the region. People are also not immune to the pathogen.

So far this year, 17 cases of rabbit plague have been reported to the health authorities in the southwest (as of the end of August). The sick or dead animals were discovered in the cities of Freiburg and Karlsruhe as well as the districts of Rastatt, Neckar-Odenwaldkreis, Esslingen, Emmendingen, Böblingen, Ravensburg, Sigmaringen, Bodenseekreis, Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Rottweil and Konstanz, among others, as the Ministry of Agriculture announced.

The reportable so-called tularemia is mainly found in brown hares in the southwest. However, it can also occur in other animals including birds. They die after a short illness.

People can also become infected with the rabbit plague pathogens – for example when they touch sick or dead animals. According to data from the Robert Koch Institute, this has happened to eleven people in the southwest so far this year.

The pathogen can cause, for example, diarrhea, body aches and vomiting, but can also lead to serious illnesses.

Diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans are called zoonoses. According to the Chemical and Veterinary Investigation Office in Stuttgart, hare plague has been occurring again in Germany since 2004 and has been increasing in the southwest since 2016.