Health
Blastomycosis: Understanding This Fungal Infection
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Blastomycosis is a rare and dangerous infection caused by the fungus Blastomyces. This organism lives in natural environments, especially in moist soil and decomposing wood and leaves.
People can get blastomycosis by inhaling microscopic spores released into the air when soil containing the fungus is disturbed — for example, during digging or construction.
Blastomycosis was responsible for the death of a 29-year-old Michigan chef named Ian Pritchard in February 2024, bringing national attention to its threat.
In the United States, blastomycosis has traditionally been a concern for people in the Midwest, the Great Lakes, the South Central region, and Southeastern states (especially in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys), says Mark Rupp, MD, the chief of the division of infectious diseases and a professor of medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
But recently, the fungal infection has been showing up in unexpected parts of the country. “There have been some reports up in the Northeast, an area where blastomycosis hadn’t been identified before, and so we’re realizing the range of this particular fungus is probably broader than had previously been defined,” says Dr. Rupp.
Increases in temperature and precipitation because of climate change may be expanding the areas where fungi, including the fungus that causes blastomycosis, are able to survive, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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