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Original Article: http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/01/07/news/doc4782e35691758533473435.txt

A Lab died from blastomycosis, a disease becoming more well-known

ROANOKE -- Sammi, a yellow Labrador retriever, was one of the best dogs the Jeff McClure family ever had. She even survived a tornado that took down a sheep barn and shook the foundation of the McClure house in rural Roanoke.

“She was such a good dog,” Marilyn McClure said. “She was so even tempered. We never had a dog we were so close to as Sammi.”

The McClures had hoped to breed Sammi one more time and keep some of her puppies, but that didn’t happen.

Sammi, 7, died last fall, just 13 days after she first showed symptoms of being sick. A veterinarian diagnosed blastomycosis (“blasto” for short), a disease that originates from fungus growing in wet soil.

It is common in the Mississippi Valley area, where the soil is rich and moist. There are reported cases throughout the area, including several near Roanoke. Most have been outside dogs that live near or have roaming access to land near waterways.

The fungus creates tiny spores that once airborne, are able to enter a dog’s lungs. Certain breeds of dogs are more susceptible: Sporting and hunting dogs that spend more time sniffing soil, and farm dogs that spend a great deal of time outside have more possibility of exposure.

However, all dogs can get the disease. Blasto is easily inhaled into the dog’s lungs.

Once inside the dog, the fungal spores are in a warm, moist and dark environment, rich in nutrients, and become infective yeast-like organisms which multiply in huge numbers.

Symptoms of Blasto include weight loss, swollen lymph nodes, draining sores, coughing, poor appetite, fever, blindness, bone lesions and mattery eyes.

Washburn veterinarian Tom McKenna said treatment is challenging and expensive and not much has been done to improve it during the past 10 years.

However, McKenna said veterinarians have become more aware of the disease in recent years, and that has helped bring about quicker diagnosis.

Chest and physical exams, eye exams, blood labs or a microscopic slide of a lesion are all ways to arrive at a diagnosis.

McKenna said the best way to prevent the disease is to work with your vet and have pets regularly examined one or two times a year, try to prevent other diseases that suppress the immune system and provide good nutrition.