Ian Pritchard, a 29-year-old man in Michigan, succumbed to death last week from a rare fungal infection called blastomycosis, a disease caused by the fungus Blastomyces that attacks and weakens the respiratory system.
The infection-causing blastomyces typically thrives in moist soil, particularly in areas with decomposing organic material like wood and leaves. It is usually seen in the midwestern, south-central, and southeastern states and is known to be in areas surrounding the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys, the Great Lakes, and the Saint Lawrence River.
