MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – Both state and local authorities have confirmed four cases of blastomycosis in Northeast Wisconsin, all apparently after those people went tubing on the Little Wolf River in early June.
However, state officials in a release didn’t specify the source of the fungal infection.
An Appleton Medical Center spokeswoman said of the 4 cases, one person remains hospitalized.
An infection can develop when a person inhales spores of a fungus found in soil, called Blastomyces dematitidis. About half of people exposed to the fungus never develop symptoms, experts say. Symptoms, which begin to occur between 3 and 15 weeks after a person is exposed, can include a fever, cough, muscle aches and fatigue, and can progress to weight loss, chest pain and a persistent cough. If not detected and treated early, blastomycosis can cause serious complications. The illness cannot be spread from person to person and can be treated with medication.
State officials say spores of the fungus are released and become airborne when soil or rotting organic matter is disturbed. The fungus needs very specific weather and soil conditions to grow and produce infecting spores, so an area where people were infected may pose no threat within a few days. There is no way to identify where the fungus exists, the state says, and testing is usually not successful.
Last year, Wisconsin had 89 cases of blastomycosis and saw 91 cases in 2013. Most of them happened in northern Wisconsin, where conditions are more favorable to the fungus.
