Officials: Yard waste site likely source of rare fungal infection
http://www.gazetteextra.com/fungaldeath060507.aspMERRILL, Wis. - A large pile of pine needles at the city's yard waste site was the likely source of a rare fungal infection that killed a 16-year-old girl and sickened 20 others early last year, according to state and local health officials.
Weather patterns and soil conditions contributed to the outbreak of blastomycosis, which was likely the largest urban outbreak in the country, said John Archer, an epidemiologist at the state Department of Health and Family Services.
"Nothing like this has ever been reported," he said Monday.
Tristan Muenchow, a junior at Merrill High School, died Feb. 14, 2006, from the fungal infection. She lived next door to the waste site.
Health officials said 21 people became infected with blastomycosis between January and April 2006. Thirteen lived within a half-mile of the yard waste site and three others had almost daily exposure to it.
Nine months of drought in early 2005 followed by rains in the fall might have created an environment for the fungus to grow in the pile of pine needles and release spores, said John Pfister, a state microbiologist and epidemiologist.
The spores might have been carried by the wind and lodged in people's lungs, he said.
City workers used a loader around the time people were infected to move the pile of needles, Lincoln County Health Officer Shelley Hersil said.
Blastomycosis is an uncommon but potentially fatal fungal infection in humans that primarily affects the lungs and skin. People develop the disorder by inhaling spores from a fungus that grows in soil containing decomposing organic material, such as leaves, authorities said. It can take as long as three months for a person to develop symptoms, which include fever, acute lung infection, weight loss, chest pain, muscle aches and a skin rash.
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Topic: Blastomycosis in Yard Waste! (Read 1492 times)