An Epidemic of North American Blastomycosis

North American blastomycosis, a fungus disease rarely diagnosed two decades ago except at a few medical centers, is now being recognized more frequently. This report of 10 cases occurring in a small circumscribed area should alert physicians and public health workers in the endemic areas of the Midwest, Ohio River Valley, and the southeastern United States1to the possibility of the occurrence of other such outbreaks. THE EPIDEMIC On Feb. 5, 1954, a one-year-old white female child (table, case 4) from Grifton, in Pitt County, North Carolina, was admitted to the pediatric service at Duke Hospital. She began to have coryza-like symptoms on Jan. 20. Two days later she developed fever and grunting respirations. X-rays showed a dense consolidation at the base of the left lung. Because of the lack of response to antibiotics and the progression of her symptoms, she had been referred for admission. The marked similarity