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[Wilson3]

So sorry to hear about your husband
Many people have survived...it is very hard and long treatment.The hospital I work at has had cases and they all did survive. From what I know they where on meds at least a year. The really bad caeses they did do the IV treatment to start.
Yes blasto can  be in lymph nodes,my Wilson had it in his. He is a dog but symtoms are the same in both.A lot of the times they will do a biopsy from them.
 I guess why should I be surprised the the humamn drs. are not up on blasto also.
So sad.
I wish you luck and your family will be in my thoughts. Please keep us posted.
Wilson3

[Doris3175]

We tried sueing, but nothing can be done.  The anti fungal meds are suppose to be taken for at least 6 months to a year if I'm not mistaken.

[Connie]

From talking to other people who have had blasto, itraconasol has been used for a long period of time. I was on it for  about 16 months.

[sherry]

well we are still waiting for the dr to call us back.. i called at 6 and it is after 11 ans she is oncall .. i really do not think she knows enough to treat my husband.. hopefully we will get a call today

[csutherland]

If your husband has in fact been diagnosed with Blasto then he absolutely needs more than 2 months treatment.  Sounds as if my husband's case was much milder than Mark's but his young, hot-shot Infectious Disease specialist is keeping him on Itraconazole for a year.  I don't necessarily mean hot-shot in a deragatory sense; he's just very intense and gung-ho.  Which is good when you're very sick.

[sherry]

yeah we go back to the specialist today. He is still very sick from the sporanox...they are talking about putting him the hospital again. but i do not like her i dont think she is very good, i am going to ask the dr tomorrow to recommed someone else...will let ya'll know. i am hunting for some info from a dr. who knows something about blaso no one in cincinnati seems to know alot about it. if someone knows os a hospital or something please let me know. i am wearing myself out researching on the internet

[lisamarr]

  I'm so sorry to hear about Mark... I don't have advice re doctors, but when looking into the science literature on Blasto, I came across this article. It is guidelines established last year on treatment of Blastomycosis in humans. It does say humans should be treated for 6-12 months......The authors are all infectious disease specialists and you'll see one is in Chicago and another in Ann Arbor MI ---perhaps at the least your regular doctor could contact one of the authors for recommendations in  Cincinnati?  Oh, there have been cases of INDOOR cats getting Blasto, so it seems to me we don't know for sure that humans can't acquire Blasto from inhaling spores in their homes....

 Here is a link to a down-loadable PDF of the article:  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/bugdrug/antibiotic_manual/idsablasto2008.pdf

If you can't access that, here's the info you'ld need to have a librarian help you get the article.

Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Blastomycosis: 2008 Update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Clinical Infectious Diseases 2008; 46:1801–12

Authors:Stanley W. Chapman,1 William E. Dismukes,2 Laurie A. Proia,3 Robert W. Bradsher,4 Peter G. Pappas,2
Michael G. Threlkeld,5,a and Carol A. Kauffman6
1University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson; 2University of Alabama at Birmingham; 3Rush Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois; 4University of
Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock; 5Germantown, Tennessee; and 6University of Michigan Medical School, Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor
Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan


These guidelines were developed and issued on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
It is important to realize that guidelines cannot always account for individual variation among patients. They are not intended to supplant physician judgment with respect to particular patients or special clinical situations and cannot be considered inclusive of all proper methods of care or exclusive of other treatments reasonably directed at obtaining the same results. Accordingly, the Infectious Diseases Society of America considers adherence to these guidelines to be voluntary, with the ultimate determination regarding their application to be made by the physician in light of each patient’s individual circumstances.

Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Carol A. Kauffman, Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor
Healthcare System, 2215 Fuller Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48105 (ckauff@umich.edu).
Clinical Infectious Diseases 2008; 46:1801–12


The best to you and Mark!     Lisa (owner of Beau, a dog with Blasto living near Columbus)