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Blastomycosis

Definition:
Blastomycosis is a rare fungal infection caused by inhaling a fungus (Blastomyces dermatitidis), which is found in wood and soil.

Alternative Names:
North American blastomycosis; Gilchrist's disease

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Blastomycosis occurs most often in people living in the south-central and Midwestern US and Canada. Exposure to soil is the key risk factor. The disease usually affects people with compromised immune systems, such as people with HIV or organ transplant recipients.

Men are more likely to be affected than women. Lung infection may produce no symptoms, but when the infection is widespread, skin lesions or bone lesions may appear and the urogenital system (bladder, kidney, prostate, testes) may be affected.

The incidence of blastomycosis is 1-2 out of every 100,000 people in geographic areas where blastomycosis occurs most frequently. It is even less common outside those areas.



Review Date: 7/31/2002
Reviewed By: Christopher Parsons, M.D., Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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