Is human blastomycosis a reportable disease?
Blastomycosis is not a required reportable disease at the national level (U.S. Centers for Disease Control). However, certain states (Wisconsin is one) require that cases of blastomycosis be reported to the state Department of Public Health, or State Epidemiologist. This information is important for monitoring outbreaks, unusual disease presentations, new risk factors, treatment failures, etc., that reflect ongoing or new epidemiological trends of the disease at the state level. It was just this sort of information that led to investigation of the Eagle River , Wisconsin outbreak from which the first convincing environmental isolation of B. dermatitidis was obtained.
