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Review
. 2013 Jun;141(6):1143-7.
doi: 10.1017/S0950268812001860. Epub 2012 Aug 29.

Endemic human blastomycosis in Quebec, Canada, 1988-2011

I V Litvinov  1 , G St-Germain, R Pelletier, M Paradis, D C Sheppard
Affiliations
Review

Endemic human blastomycosis in Quebec, Canada, 1988-2011

I V Litvinov et al. Epidemiol Infect. 2013 Jun.

Abstract

Blastomycosis is a systemic fungal infection found in various parts of the world. A review of literature for Quebec, Canada revealed only few case reports with the most recent one dating back to 1993. However, whether Quebec represents an important endemic region for blastomycosis in North America is unknown. In this work we reviewed 158 cases of human blastomycosis documented in Quebec during 1988-2011 using microbiological records available from the provincial public health laboratory. The estimated annual incidence of blastomycosis in the province is was ~0·133 cases per 100 000 individuals with the highest rates of 0·79 and 0·46 cases per 100 000 recorded in South-eastern and South-western Quebec. Moreover, the annual incidence rate significantly increased over the past 20 years. This study for the first time establishes Quebec as an important endemic region for Blastomyces dermatitidis.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Review of 158 cases of blastomycosis in Quebec documented during 1998–2011. (a) Number of diagnosed cases of blastomycosis in various age groups in the province. (b) Linear regression model demonstrating the occurrence of blastomycosis in Quebec (R2=0·418, P=0·001). The slope of a trend line was calculated as 0·37 cases/year. (c) Linear regression model analysis of annual incidence of blastomycosis per 100 000 people in Quebec (R2=0·369, P=0·002). The slope of a trend line was calculated to be 0·0044 cases/100 000 individuals per year.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Annual incidence rate of blastomycosis per 100 000 people reported for each administrative region in Quebec during 2005–2010.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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