The Treatment of North American Blastomycosis

Pulmonary Blastomycosis

“…70 Five large series of patients showed that therapy with a cumulative dose of at least 1 g of amphotericin B deoxycholate resulted in cure without relapse in 77 to 91% of patients. 2,[71][72][73][74] Abernathy showed in 1967 that cumulative doses of 2 g resulted in cure rates up to 97%. 75 Only one randomized comparative treatment trial of antifungal agents for blastomycosis has been reported in the literature.…”

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for overwhelming Blastomyces dermatitidis pneumonia

“…However, when it does occur, mortality rates have been reported to be 50–80%. It is likely that this rate of mortality is reduced with prompt recognition of the disease, aggressive supportive therapies, and administration of a total of 2 g amphotericin B [1,6]. …”

“…Following the introduction of amphotericin B, the fatality rate has fallen from 78% to between 21–28%. If a total dose of 2 g amphotericin B is given, the cure rate may rise to 97% [1]. However, if blastomycosis pneumonia is associated with the development of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the mortality rate rises to 50%–80% [2].…”

History of medical mycology in the united states

“…The study to compare the effectiveness of 2-hydroxystilbamidine and amphotericin B began in 1955 and revealed that amphotericin B was more effective (78% successfully treated) than the former drug (58%) in managing this mycotic infection (254). Furcolow and the CDC Cooperative Mycoses Study Group members in Kansas City reported the results of their first large cooperative study on long-term follow-up evaluation of amphotericin B therapy for histoplasmosis in 1963 (133).…”