Blastomyces dermatitidis Environmental Prevalence in Minnesota: Analysis and Modeling Using Soil Collected at Basal and Outbreak Sites

Abstract

Upon inhalation of spores from the fungus Blastomyces dermatitidis from the environment, humans and animals can develop the disease blastomycosis. Based on disease epidemiology, B. dermatitidis is known to be endemic in the United States and Canada around the Great Lakes and in the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys but is starting to emerge in other areas. B. dermatitidis is extremely difficult to culture from the environment, so little is known about the environmental reservoirs for this pathogen.