KENOSHA, WISCONSIN: A mother-of-one from Wisconsin died from a rare fungus spreading rapidly across the United States. Sonya Cruz, a 31-year-old woman from Kenosha, Wisconsin, died on July 5, Wednesday from blastomycosis, a condition brought on by the fungus Blastomyces, which is primarily found in soil in wooded areas.
The mother died after doctors originally misdiagnosed the infection because the ailment is extremely rare, with only one or two cases per 100,000 people each year in some places. In an effort to save other families from going through their pain, her family is now working to spread awareness of the virus, which can kill up to 78 percent of its victims. John Cruz, Sonya's husband, told Fox 6, "My life. They took my life away from me. I’m not saying the hospital or whoever. Whatever this is, took my wife."
What happened to Sonya Cruz?
Morgan Hughes, Sonya's sister, claimed that a telecom company is excavating near her house to put in an underground cable. The Wisconsin Department of Health, according to Hughes, has launched an investigation into her sister's death. The mother complained of breathing problems and visited the emergency room on June 16 at St Katherine's Hospital in Kenosha, Wisconsin. She was given antibiotics and a diagnosis of pneumonia by medical professionals. Things had not changed after a week and a half, so she saw her primary care physician.
After being admitted, staff at St Katherine's gave Sonya additional antibiotics and water. She suffered from respiratory failure two days later. She was then sedated and placed on a ventilator. Her blood pressure was gradually dropping, so she was provided with meds to keep her heart working. Doctors performed a bronchoscopy and biopsy of her lungs, which revealed blastomycosis. Sonya's husband was unaware of the condition before his wife was sick. He stated, "I can walk out here and swallow a bullet, not literally a bullet, but a bullet of that. I think this is something that needs to be shared around the world."
How dangerous is blastomyces?
Blastomyces often live in damp soil in addition to rotting wood and leaves. The spores have the potential to be launched into the air if the ground is disturbed. Inhaling the spores can send them down to the lungs, where they can start a fungal infection. Chest pain, muscle aches, joint pain, and fever are just a few of the symptoms. It doesn't spread from person to person, but it can expand within an individual to other parts of the body such as the skin or bones. If not treated promptly, the fungus can be fatal. Sonya received antifungal therapy, but she died after just over a week in the hospital, as per Daily Mail.
Dr Bruce Klein from the Medical School at the University of Wisconsin has been researching the infection for about 40 years. He mentioned that the virus is underreported and that reported cases in Wisconsin are uncommon. "That’s probably only a fraction of the true occurrence of infection because we know that at least half of the cases can have mild or asymptomatic illness," he stated. The Wisconsin Department of Health reported that the US had the highest rate of blastomycosis. Authorities reported 1,412 incidents between 2011 and 2020, an average of 116 per year. 61 percent of the patients were hospitalized, and 124 died, for a mortality rate of 11%.
The Minnesota Department of Health reports an increase in blastomycosis-related deaths. It reported 82 cases of the illness in 2021. Normally, nine percent of blastomycosis patients die from the infection most years, but in 2021, 23 percent of patients died.
