SYSTEMIC BLASTOMYCOSIS.

Abstract

Since Gilchrist, in America, and Busse and Buschke, in Germany, first described the infectious disease now generally known as blastomycosis, about one hundred cases involving the skin have been recognized, chiefly in Chicago and its vicinity, but also in other parts of the United States, in Canada, in various parts of Europe, in Japan, India and South America. In consequence cutaneous blastomycosis is generally accepted by dermatologists and pathologists throughout the world as a distinct clinical and pathologic entity.¹ It is not, however, so generally understood that deeper-seated infection with these same organisms may cause grave and usually fatal systemic disease. The purpose of this paper is to call attention to a number of recorded and unrecorded cases of systemic blastomycosis and to summarize and classify, as far as is now possible, the etiologic, pathologic and clinical features of the disorder. We have collected twenty-two