At least 1 dead, 21 sickened in fungal outbreak at U.P. paper mill

(Detroit News) At least one person has died in connection with a fungal outbreak at an Escanaba, Michigan, paper mill, health officials said Friday.

County health officials in Michigan's Upper Peninsula are investigating a fungal outbreak tied to the Escanaba Billerud Paper Mill that appears to have killed one person and sickened at least 21 others. The person who died was a contractor who worked at the mill, said Michael Snyder, health officer for the Public Health Department for Delta & Menominee Counties.

Those numbers are up from April 7, when there were at least 19 confirmed cases of blastomycosis. The most recent update also indicates that there are 76 probable cases of blastomycosis among the Escanaba mill workers, according to a news release from the Public Health Department for Delta & Menominee Counties. All 97 of the cases are employees, contractors or visitors of the paper mill, which announced Thursday it was closing for three weeks. ...............(more)

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/04/14/paper-mill-site-of-a-fungal-outbreak-in-u-p-will-close-for-three-weeks/70113647007/