New Delhi, Aug. 4 -- NEW YORK - Three Long Island residents have been identified as probable cases of tularemia, a rare bacterial infection spread by ticks and contact with infected wildlife, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services said this week. Laboratory confirmation is pending and may take several weeks, officials said.

The cases mark an unusual concentration of a disease that affects fewer than 250 Americans in a typical year. Tularemia, caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis, circulates in rabbits, rodents, and other small mammals and can reach people through tick bites, deer fly bites, direct contact with infected animals, contaminated water, or even by inhaling dust disturbed from infected carcasses. The county ...