Abstract
Environmental isolations of the dimorphic fungus, Blastomyces dermatitidis, the aetiologic agent of blastomycosis are rare, and have usually involved animal innoculation techniques. We report the in vitro isolation of B. dermatitidis from a woodpile in November 1997, from a private property in a highly endemic area of north central Wisconsin, USA. The woodpile was 73m from the Wisconsin River and 5m from a kennel which had housed nine dogs over the past 14 years, four of which had been diagnozed with blastomycosis. One of 19 samples from the property yielded B. dermatitidis after 37°C incubation in a neutral aqueous solution of allantoin, Tween-80, potassium phosphate, magnesium sulphate, penicillin and streptomycin followed by plating on yeast-extract phosphate agar at 20°C. Refinements of this technique may help further elucidate the ecological niche of B.dermatitidis.