Blastomycosis: Infection with a fungus called Blastomyces dermatitidis. The infection causes symptoms in about 50% of cases. It usually presents as a flu-like illness with fever, chills, productive cough, myalgia, arthralgia and pleuritic chest pain. Some patients fail to recover and develop chronic pulmonary infection or widespread disseminated infection (affecting the skin, bones, and genitourinary tract). It occasionally affects the meninges which cover the brain and spinal cord.
The offending fungus is found in moist soil enriched with decomposing organic debris. It is endemic in parts of the south-central, south-eastern and mid-western United States and in microfoci in Central and South America and parts of Africa. Transmission of the fungus is by inhalation of airborne conidia (spores) after disturbance of contaminated soil.
Persons at elevated risk for the disease are those in areas with endemic disease with exposures to wooded sites (e.g., farmers, forestry workers, hunters, and campers). People who are immunodeficient are also at higher risk for blastomycosis. The disease can leave permanent lung damage. Mortality (death) rate is about 5%.
Blastomycosis is a rare infection that may develop when people breathe in (inhale) a fungus called Blastomyces dermatitidis, which is found in wood and soil.
What is blastomycosis? Blastomycosis is an uncommon, but potentially serious fungal infection. It primarily affects the lungs and skin and is caused by the ...
Library > Literature & Language > Dictionary ( blăs ' tÅ-mÄ«-kÅ ' sÄs ) n. A fungal infection caused by a blastomycete and characterized by multiple inflammatory ...
Introduction. Blastomycosis is an infection found in dogs, people, and occasionally cats. It is caused by the fungal organism Blastomyces dermatitidis, which is found as a ...
In 1894, Gilchrist first described blastomycosis in the United States.