A 29-year-old chef in Michigan passed away after battling an uncommon fungal disease. Ian Pritchard was infected with blastomycosis, a fungus-borne illness, sometime before Thanksgiving last year, as per a report by New York Post. The illness severely affected his respiratory system, ultimately causing extensive damage to his lungs. A GoFundMe page also raised close to $20,000 for his family. Pritchard, who was hospitalized in December, succumbed to the “blastomycosis fungal infection that rendered his lungs beyond recovery,” the report stated. According to his father Ron Pritchard, “They showed us a picture of his lungs, and they literally looked like Swiss cheese.”
Initially, Ian Pritchard was admitted to a hospital in Petoskey, Michigan. However, his condition quickly worsened, and he was transferred to Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital. The report mentioned that people contract the illness by inhaling spores of the fungus, blastomyces, which is found in damp soil, decaying wood, and leaves in the Midwest and South. Ron Pritchard discussed how his son contracted the disease, explaining, “It’s in the air, it’s in the trees, it’s in the wet leaves, it’s in the ground, it’s in the mud, it’s in, everywhere. Everywhere in northern Michigan – in fact, the Midwest – is covered in [Blastomyces].” He also mentioned that the best-case scenario for his son would have been a lung transplant, but doctors indicated that it was only feasible after the infection had been eradicated. The report stated that the infection typically develops within 2-15 weeks. In half of the patients, the symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and muscle aches. Although the disease has no cure, it is managed with antifungal medications such as Itraconazole.
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