Michigan paper mill to close for 3 weeks due to fungal outbreak.

The owners of an Escanaba paper mill have decided to temporarily shut down the mill for three weeks due to a rare fungal outbreak caused by blastomycosis. The shutdown is a precaution to prevent any additional exposures. The local health department has confirmed 21 cases and 76 probable infections. Blastomycosis is a type of fungus that grows in moist soil and decomposing matter, and people are infected by directly breathing in the fungal spores. Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is a known risk area for blastomycosis infection, but there has never been an industrial outbreak like this documented in the U.S.