An employee of a paper mill in northern Michigan has died from blastomycosis, a fungal infection. The rare outbreak has affected nearly 100 employees at the Billerud Paper Mill in Escanaba.

A mill has been closed for up to three weeks for a scrubbing after authorities confirmed cases of fungal infection among workers since March.

The Billerud Paper Mill in Escanaba, which employs more than 800 people, will undergo deep cleaning in high traffic areas.

Blastomycosis primarily affects the lungs

• Blastomycosis is an infection caused by a fungus called Blastomyces dermatitidis. The fungus lives in moist soil and in decomposing matter such as wood and leaves.

• People can get blastomycosis after breathing in the microscopic fungal spores from the air. It primarily affects the lungs.

• Blastomycosis doesn’t spread between people or between people and animals through the air. 

• Although most people who breathe in the spores don’t get sick, some people will develop symptoms like fever and cough, and the infection can sometimes become serious if it is not treated. Other symptoms  include chills, muscle aches, joint pain and chest pain.

• In some people, particularly those who have weakened immune systems, blastomycosis can spread from the lungs to other parts of the body, such as the skin, bones and joints, and the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord).

• Blastomycosis is also known as Gilchrist’s disease.

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