ReviewClinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America2019
Blastomyces helicus, a New Dimorphic Fungus Causing Fatal Pulmonary and Systemic Disease in Humans and Animals in Western Canada and the United States.
Review in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 103 citations in OpenAlex.
- Name Changes for Fungi of Medical Importance, 2016-2017.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2019Pooled it
- Article
- Role of Blastomyces BAD-1 IgG Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) for the diagnosis of blastomycosis in persons residing in an endemic area.Medical mycology · 2026Article
- Fungal Infections in Pediatric Patients With Hematologic Malignancies and Stem Cell Transplantation: Impact on the Upper and Lower Respiratory Systems.The Canadian journal of infectious diseases & medical microbiology = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses et de la microbiologie medicale · 2026Review
- Updating the Epidemiology of Blastomycosis and Histoplasmosis in the United States, Using National Electronic Health Record Data, 2013-2023.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2025Article
- A case ofMedical mycology case reports · 2025Article
- Mapping the Geographic Distribution of Dimorphic Mycoses Using a US Commercial Insurance Database.Open forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Endemic Mycoses for Pulmonary Clinicians: From Nodules to ARDS.CHEST pulmonary · 2025Review
- Diagnosing Blastomycosis: A Review of Laboratory Methods and Clinical Utility.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Practical Guidance for Clinical Microbiology Laboratories: Antibody and antigen detection methods for dimorphic fungal infections.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Fungus in the Fur: An Overview of Fungal Infections in Cats, Dogs, and Exotic Small Mammals.Current topics in microbiology and immunology · 2025Review
- Emerging Human Health Problems Caused by Pathogenic and Immuno-activating Fungi.Current topics in microbiology and immunology · 2025Review
- Autochthonous Blastomyces dermatitidis, India.Emerging infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Comparative genome analysis and the genome-shaping role of long terminal repeat retrotransposons in the evolutionary divergence of fungal pathogens Blastomyces dermatitidis and Blastomyces gilchristii.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2024Article
- Perspectives on blastomycosis in Canada in the face of climate change.Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada · 2024Article
- Emerging Fungal Infections of the Central Nervous System in the Past Decade: A Literature Review.Infectious disease reports · 2024Review
- Admixture in the fungal pathogen Blastomyces.Genetics · 2024Article
- Pulmonary Blastomycosis in Two Immunocompetent Patients: The Role of Obesity and Vitamin D Deficiency.Cureus · 2024Article
- Article
- Clinical Presentation of Blastomycosis is Associated With Infecting Species, Not Host Genotype.Clinical medicine & research · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Blastomyces helicus (formerly Emmonsia helica) is a dimorphic fungus first isolated from a man with fungal encephalitis in Alberta, Canada. The geographic range, epidemiology, and clinical features of disease are unknown. Methods: We reviewed human and veterinary isolates of B. helicus identified among Blastomyces and Emmonsia isolates at the University of Alberta Microfungus Collection and Herbarium, University of Texas Health San Antonio's Fungus Testing Laboratory, and Associated Regional and University Pathologists Laboratories. Isolates were selected based on low Blastomyces dermatitidis DNA probe values and/or atypical morphology. Species identification was confirmed for most isolates by DNA sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer with or without D1/D2 ribosomal RNA regions. Epidemiological and clinical data were analyzed. Results: We identified isolates from 10 human and 5 veterinary cases of B. helicus infection; all were referred from western regions of Canada and the United States. Isolates remained sterile in culture, producing neither conidia nor sexual spores in the mycelial phase, but often producing coiled hyphae. Isolates were most frequently cultured from blood and bronchoalveolar lavage in humans and lungs in animals. Most infected persons were immunocompromised. Histopathological findings included pleomorphic, small or variably sized yeast-like cells, with single or multiple budding, sometimes proliferating to form short, branching, hyphal-like elements. Disease carried a high case-fatality rate. Conclusions: Blastomyces helicus causes fatal pulmonary and systemic disease in humans and companion animals. It differs from B. dermatitidis in morphological presentation in culture and in histopathology, by primarily affecting immunocompromised persons, and in a geographic range that includes western regions of North America.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.