Blastomycosis is endemic in regions of North America that border the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, as well as in the Mississippi River and Ohio River basins. Men are affected more often than women and children because men are more likely to participate in activities that put them at risk for exposure to Blastomyces dermatitidis. Human infection occurs when soil containing microfoci of...

BACKGROUND Blastomycosis is a potentially life-threatening infection caused by the soil-based dimorphic fungus Blastomyces dermatitidis, which is endemic throughout much of the Midwestern United States. We investigated an increase in reported cases of blastomycosis that occurred during 2009-2010 in Marathon County, Wisconsin. METHODS Case detection was conducted using the Wisconsin Electronic...

Cutaneous blastomycosis (CB) is associated with a variety of skin manifestations. Among other entities, CB may be mistaken for pyoderma gangrenosum due to overlap of findings on histopathologic examination. We report a case of CB, initially diagnosed as pyoderma gangrenosum and treated with steroids, leading to disseminated blastomycosis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Relapse or recurrence of blastomycosis in patients is rare. Re-infection of a patient with blastomycosis has not been previously reported. In this report, we describe relapse or reinfection with Blastomyces in 2 immunocompetent patients. This is the first study in which genetic typing was performed on paired Blastomyces isolates from the same patient obtained months apart.

Blastomycosis can occasionally involve the central nervous system (CNS). Amphotericin B deoxycholate is considered the drug of choice for the treatment of CNS blastomycosis. Significant toxicity may be associated with its use. We describe a case of cerebral blastomycoma that was successfully treated with voriconazole.

Blastomycosis-like pyoderma is a rare, vegetating skin lesion that is an unusual exaggerated tissue reaction possibly to prolonged primary or secondary bacterial infection. We report a case of blastomycosis-like pyoderma in a man with Down syndrome, diabetes mellitus and hypothyroidism who responsed poorly to conventional therapies, including antibiotics and correction of predisposing factors f...

To investigate the epidemiology and geographic distribution of histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis, and blastomycosis in older persons in the United States, we evaluated a random 5% sample of national Medicare data from 1999 through 2008. We calculated national, regional, and state-based incidence rates and determined 90-day postdiagnosis mortality rates. We identified 776 cases (357 histoplasmo...

A four-year-old, neutered male Labrador retriever from Minnesota, USA was presented to a dermatology referral clinic for evaluation of waxing and waning paronychia and multifocal cutaneous nodules of five months’ duration. The condition was managed before referral with antibiotics and glucocorticoids resulting in a partial response, but new lesions continued to develop. Skin biopsies made both ...

Prior to the development of ketoconazole, the treatment of systemic histoplasmosis and blastomycosis was limited to AMB. The convenience of oral dosing, combined with avoidance of the significant toxicities associated with AMB, make ketoconazole an attractive alternative for the treatment of selected forms of histoplasmosis and blastomycosis. Although high-dose (800 mg/day) ketoconazole is gene...