The results of chest radiography were normal. The patient was treated with oral itraconazole 200 mg once daily. After 8 weeks she appeared cured, and therapy was discontinued. At the time of writing there had been no recurrence of the infection. References Background Blastomycosis is an uncommon, though regularly seen, life-threatening 1 disease caused by a dimorphic fungal pathogen, B. dermatitidis .
Infection ordinarily derives from inhalation of inoculum from contaminated environmental material.
Such cases usually begin as a mild to severe pneumonia-like illness. This primary infection may be followed after some weeks or months by dissemination to other body sites. 1 Blastomycosis is one of several environmentally acquired fungal diseases with defined areas of endemicity. To our knowledge, no cases of blastomycosis have been definitively shown to have been acquired in or near the major population areas of industrial southern Ontario. In the zones where blastomycosis is endemic, the disease is predominantly encountered in rural or wilderness areas, where the etiologic agent may colonize soil or plant litter in riparian sites.