If you find yourself digging in the dirt in the Northwoods and breathing deep, keep an eye on whether you develop a cough, fever, chills, muscle aches, joint pain, or chest pain. A respiratory illness lurks in the soil – Blastomycosis.

Our guest Dr. Bruce Klein, professor of Pediatrics, Medicine, and Medical Microbiology and Immunology at UW-Madison, gives us a look at this fungal disease with a special place in Wisconsin.

 

Resources:

https://www.medicine.wisc.edu/infectious-disease/think-blasto

https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/disease/blastomycosis.htm

 

Image: Joshua Mayer from Madison, WI, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

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