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Blastmycosis - A Fatal Fungus
Blastmycosis is caused by a microscopic fungus that lives in the soil and periodically releases invisible spores into the air, which dogs, other animals and people can inhale. The spores can travel in the wind for at least half a mile.
At body temperature, the spores turn into yeasts and infect the lungs. Entering into the bloodstream, blasto will spread to the skin, bones, joints, lymph nodes, kidneys, eyes or brain.
Blasto can be found in the Upper Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Southeastern states, and in the Ohio and Mississippi River basins.
The fungus occurs more frequently in the fall around wetlands and waterways, but it can occur in urban and suburban areas, too.
Risk factors include living or spending time near water, disturbing the soil during excavation, construction, or gardening. Dogs that dig increase their risk, but any dog can contract blastomycosis.
Symptoms Of Blastmycosis
Blasto can infect multiple organs and produce various symptoms. Dogs show illness within a few weeks to a few months after inhaling spores. Eight-five percent of dogs develop pneumonia, forty percent suffer skin and eye problems.
Symptoms include: loss of appetite, weight loss, fever over 103, cough, shortness of breath, open sores or lumps that drain blood or pus, pain in a limb or joints, cloudy, bulging, or red painful eyes, and seizures or other signs of brain infection.
Avoid taking your dog to known blasto areas, and prevent digging, if you can. If you live or travel to a blasto area, pay close attention to any signs of illness in your dog and seek medical attention immediately.
With treatment eighty-five percent of dogs survive. Treatment is very expensive, but not an option. You either treat or euthanize because the disease is fatal, and not a pleasant way to go. Luckily, Blastmycosis is not contagious.
Research on better diagnosis by blood-testing is ongoing. A successful vaccine on mice promises hope for a canine vaccine against blastomycosis in the near future.
