In these areas, there are about 1 to 2 cases per 100,000 per year. Less frequently, blastomycosis also occurs in Africa, the Middle East, India, and western North America. Blastomycosis also affects a broad range of non-human mammals, and dogs in particular are an order of magnitude more likely to contract the disease than humans. The ecological niche of Blastomyces in the wild is poorly understood, and it is unknown if there are any significant host animals.Blastomycosis has existed for millions of years but was first described by Thomas Caspar Gilchrist in 1894. Because of this, it is sometimes called "Gilchrists disease". Signs and symptoms
The symptoms of blastomycosis cover a wide range, overlapping with more common conditions; for this reason, blastomycosis has often been called "the great pretender". Many cases are asymptomatic or subclinical. Lung symptoms are common, because the lungs are infected in 79% of blastomycosis cases. However, in 25-40% of cases the disease also disseminates to other organs, including the skin.The extent and severity of symptoms depends in part on a persons immune status; less than 50% of healthy people with blastomycosis have symptoms, while immunocompromised patients are especially likely to have the disease spread beyond the lungs to other organs like the skin and bones.Blastomycosis manifests as a primary lung infection in about 79% of cases. The onset is relatively slow and symptoms are suggestive of bacterial pneumonia, often leading to initial treatment with antibacterials.
Urine alkalinisation has not been found to be useful.If a person is drowsy but awake and can swallow and breathe without difficulty, the treatment can be as simple as monitoring the person closely. If the person is not breathing, it may involve mechanical ventilation until the drug has worn off. Psychiatric consult is generally recommended. Notable cases
People who are known to have died by suicide from barbiturate overdose include, Gillian Bennett, Charles Boyer, Ruan Lingyu, Victor Folke Nelson, Dalida, Jeannine "The Singing Nun" Deckers, Felix Hausdorff, Abbie Hoffman, Phyllis Hyman, Marilyn Monroe, C. P. Ramanujam, George Sanders, Jean Seberg, Lupe Vélez and the members of  Heavens Gate cult. Others who have died as a result of barbiturate overdose include Pier Angeli, Brian Epstein, Judy Garland, Jimi Hendrix, Inger Stevens, Dinah Washington, Ellen Wilkinson, and Alan Wilson; in some cases these have been speculated to be suicides as well. Those who died of a combination of barbiturates and other drugs include Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Dorothy Kilgallen, Malcolm Lowry, Edie Sedgwick and Kenneth Williams. Dorothy Dandridge died of either an overdose or an unrelated embolism. Ingeborg Bachmann may have died of the consequences of barbiturate withdrawal (she was hospitalized with burns, the doctors treating her not being aware of her barbiturate addiction). Maurice Chevalier attempted suicide in March 1971 by swallowing a large amount of barbiturates and slitting his wrists. While he lived, he suffered severe organ damage as a result and died from multiple organ failure nine months later.