Fungal infection outbreak affects 90+ workers at Escanaba paper mill

(Detroit Free Press) More than 90 employees at an Upper Peninsula paper mill are believed infected with a fungus found in soil and decaying wood, with about a dozen requiring hospitalization.

Investigation of a blastomycosis outbreak at the Billerud paper mill in Escanaba is ongoing, and involves local, state and federal health and occupational safety officials. With nearly 900 employees, the Billerud mill is the largest manufacturing employer and economic driver north of Midland in the state, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

A blastomycosis outbreak affecting large numbers of people is highly unusual, as the fungal disease is not typically transferred from person to person. It indicates that instead, scores of employees were infected from the same materials containing the blastomyces fungal spores, which exist in the environment in the eastern U.S. and parts of Canada. ............(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/04/08/fungal-infection-blastomycosis-escanaba-michigan-paper-mill/70092945007/