Blastomycosis was diagnosed in six nondomestic felids from eastern Tennessee, including two Asian lions (Panthera leo persicus), one African lion (Panthera leo), one Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris), one cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), and one snow leopard (Panthera uncia). Clinical signs included lethargy, anorexia, weight loss, dyspnea, sneezing. ataxia, and paresis. Variable nonspecific changes ...

N ORTH American blastomycosis (Gilchrist’s disease) is a granulomatous, infectious disease caused by the fungus, Blastomyces dermatitidis (Gilchrist and Stokes, 1898). The malady, in its cutaneous form, was first described by Gilchrist’ in 1894. A few years later, together with Stokes, he was able to isolate and culture the causative organism which he designated as B. dermatitibis.23 The first ...

Blastomycosis is endemic in river valley areas of the southeastern and Midwestern United States. Pulmonary manifestations include chronic cough and pleuritic pain. Radiographic appearance of the infection can mimic bronchogenic lung carcinoma. Pleural effusion is rarely associated with this pulmonary infection, and empyema has not been previously reported. We report a case of pulmonary and pleu...

Blastomyces dermatitidis is a dimorphic fungus which is potentially life-threatening if central nervous system (CNS) dissemination occurs. Sixteen patients with proven or probable CNS blastomycosis are presented. Median duration of symptoms was 90 days; headache and focal neurologic deficit were the most common presenting symptoms. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) consistently demonstrated an a...

The systemic fungus diseases are not common, and it is difficult to amass a significant number of patients with anyone specific deep mycosis in order to evaluate clinically any new chemotherapeutic agent. This review has attempted to assemble and summarize the present-day knowledge of the newer antifungal agents. Individual consideration is given to the systemic fungus diseases: coccidioidomyco...

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is associated with a state of immunosuppression characterized by hypogammaglobulinemia as well as B and T lymphocyte dysfunction. Though opportunistic infections are common in CLL patients, particularly after treatment, reports of infections by endemic dimorphic fungi are very few. Here we report a case of pulmonary blastomycosis in a CLL patient who initially...

Blastomyces dermatitidis is a dimorphic fungus endemic to the midwestern, south-central, and southeastern United States known to cause disseminated infection in immunocompromised individuals. We report a case of B. dermatitidis peritonitis in a renal allograft recipient with new-onset ascites and cytomegalovirus encephalitis. Peritoneal blastomycosis is a rare clinical entity and, to our knowle...