Nearly 100 workers at a Michigan paper mill have been diagnosed with probable cases of blastomycosis, a rare condition caused by a fungus typically found in soil and decaying wood.
Delta and Menominee counties have so far reported 93 confirmed or probable cases of blastomycosis, all of them linked to the Billerud paper mill in Escanaba.
Nineteen cases were confirmed through biopsies and/or laboratory cultures. Another 74 workers, each with a positive antigen or antibody test from urine or saliva, are also showing symptoms of blastomycosis, according to a news release obtained by the Detroit Free Press.
Of those, “roughly a dozen” employees have been hospitalized, including one who has been receiving medical care for several weeks, according to Gerald Kell, president of the United Steel Workers Local 21 union that represents about 670 of the mill’s 900 or so employees.
Blastomycosis is caused by a fungus, Blastomyces, that thrives in moist soil and decomposing matter like wood or leaves, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s typically found in the Midwest and the South, especially near the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and the Great Lakes.
Annually, there are only about two cases per 100,000 people each year in states where blastomycosis is a reportable condition, according to the CDC.
Widespread infection is not common as the illness does not pass from person to person. The large number of sick in Michigan suggests they all likely inhaled blastomyces fungal spores from the same materials at the mill.
Once inside the lungs, the body’s warmth and moisture can transform the spores into yeast that can be transferred through the bloodstream and then other parts of the body, including the skin, bones, joints, organs, brain and spinal cord.
Symptoms include fever, cough, night sweats, muscle aches or joint pain, weight loss, chest pain and fatigue. While it is not necessarily deadly, the illness can turn serious if not treated.
