UVEAL BLASTOMYCOSIS

Abstract
MY interest in blastomycosis of the eye was incited by a patient who recently came under by observation. A review of the ophthalmic literature reveals only a meager contribution to the subject of fungous disease of the eye. Aspergillosis has been reported as penetrating the eye from a necrotic ulcer. Actinomycosis has occasionally been reported as an intraocular infection, and experimental metastatic infection of the eye has been demonstrated after intravenous injection of fungus in animals.1 From this evidence, and from a few case reports not cited here, one may conclude that metastatic uveitis in association with systemic blastomycosis is not as unusual as it seems. The name "blastomycosis" has often been declared a misnomer. The confusion results from the discrepancy between the American interpretation and the broader classification of a group of closely related diseases caused by yeastlike, or budding, fungi. The North American disease is a special