The skin test in an epidemiologic study of tularemia in Montana trappers

tularensis. Skin test surveys (Hopla, 1960; Philip et al, 1962) provided additional evidence suggesting frequent infection of Alaskan natives with F. tularensis. However, clinical tularemia has seldom been recognized in these areas, and a major attempt to identify natural foci of infection in central Alaska was unsuccessful (Hopla, 1960; Downs, 1960). Since an extensive reservoir of tularemia has yet to be identified, the possibility of infection by an unknown, but antigenically related, agent cannot be completely disregarded. The present study was undertaken in Montana where clinical tularemia has