An "exceedingly rare" fungal infection has sickened at least 19 employees of a paper mill in Escanaba, Michigan, and more than 70 additional employees have "probable" cases of the disease, health officials reported. The exact source of the fungus has not yet been found.
Public Health Delta & Menominee Counties (PHDM) was first notified of the fungal outbreak in late February 2023, when the department was informed of 15 "atypical" pneumonia cases among employees of the Escanaba Billerud Paper Mill. These individuals' symptoms began in January and February and early tests suggested that their illnesses might be blastomycosis, an infection caused by a fungus in the genus Blastomyces.
