WINNIPEG - A strange disease spread by a fungus

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Mysterious disease-causing fungus lurks in northern soil

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2005/05/10/fungus050510.html

Last Updated Tue, 10 May 2005 14:13:53 EDT

CBC News

WINNIPEG - A strange disease spread by a fungus almost exclusive to

northwestern Ontario and Manitoba has doctors stumped.

FROM DEC. 10, 2002: Rare fungal infection raises concerns for

doctors

Dr. Jeff Embil studies xrays of damaged lung.

The fungus, which can cause a variety of conditions ranging from

pneumonia to bone infections and skin abscesses, is thought to be in

the soil.

The affliction, known as blastocmycosis, has even killed some

people. Doctors were not sure of the total because the disease

remains difficult to diagnose.

And doctors cannot say exactly how or why it's spread. And because

it affects so few in the country, Health Canada says it will not put

it on its reportable disease list.

Since 1990, about 60 people a year in northwestern Ontario seem to

contract it – more than anywhere else in the world.

" We don't see this disease anywhere else other than northwestern

Ontario and Manitoba, nowhere else in the country, " Dr. Jeff Embil

of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority told CBC.

Embil said he can't get any funding for his research, studies which

may reveal the true causes of the disease.

" It's just not a high volume disease and it's not perceived to be of

significant importance, " Embil said. " That's not to say it's not

important. It's just not given the same interest and priority of

more prevalent conditions. "

Critics say the federal health ministry isn't doing enough to track

the disease, although the Ontario and Manitoba health units are

launching awareness campaigns.

" I don't know what Health Canada is doing, " said Bruce Birchard,

whose son contracted the disease last summer.

" I mean they're not doing what they should be doing. We've had all

kinds of other awareness campaigns out there – SARS, West Nile,

BSE, " Birchard said.

Daisy lost an eye to the fungus.

In February, 12-year-old Birchard started getting headaches

and noticed a bump on his head.

His parents suspected it was blastomycosis, contracted during a

summer cleanup underneath their Lake of the Woods cottage.

It took several doctors to spot the disease. The Birchards pushed

doctors to test their son for blastomycosis.

" That's when they noticed that there was a hole, that the fungus had

eaten through my skull and there was all this mush and bone, "

told CBC.

He was put on anti-fungal medication for a year and will require

more surgery.

Last August, the family dog, Daisy, was diagnosed with

blastomycosis. It's thought she contracted it after rooting around

in dirt at the cottage. Daisy lost an eye to it.