w 



BLA STOM Y CO SIS 208 1 



water, carbolic, tar, or sand-soap, and then regularly applying a 

 resorcin-salicylic ointment (resorcin, gr. x. to xxx. ; ac. salicyl., 

 gr. X. to XX.; vaseline, §i.), will soon cause the eruption to disap- 

 pear. Instead of the ointment, a hyposulphite of soda (i drachm 

 to I ounce) or sulphurous acid lotion may be used. 



BLASTOMYCOSIS. 



Synonyms. — Saccharomycosis Hominis, Oidiomycosis, Dermatitis 

 Blastomycetica, Blastomycetic Dermatitis, Zymonematosis. 



Definition. — The term blastomycosis covers a group of closely 

 alHed pathological conditions due to fungi of the genera Saccharo- 

 myces, Cryptococcus, Coccidi- 

 oides, Oidium, and Monilia, 

 generally characterized by the 

 presence of warty patches and 

 minute epidermal abscesses. 



Historical and Geographical. 

 — Wernike, in 1890, described 

 in Buenos Ayres two cases of 

 papillomatous eruption in 

 which he found peculiar bodies 

 which were at first considered 

 to be protozoa, hence the disease 

 was called ' protozoic derma- 

 titis.' Later Gilchrist and 

 Ophiils showed them to be 

 vegetal parasites. Gilchrist, in 

 1894, described yeast-like 

 organisms in sections taken 

 from a scrofuloderrna-like 

 eruption. In the same year, 

 independently, Busse and 

 Buschke pubhshed a case of 

 a pyaemia-like condition due 

 to a Cryptococcus. The disease Fig. 829.— Blastomycosis of Leg. 

 ^ has been investigated chiefly 



by American observers, among whom Ricketts, Ormsby, Hyde, 

 Montgomery, and Pusey may be mentioned. The malady occurs 

 in the tropics, and one of us has reported several cases from Ceylon, 

 while Phalen and Nichols have described numerous cases from the 

 Philippine Islands, Leger two cases in Tonkin, and Lutz, Splendor e, 

 and others, cases from South America. 



etiology. — The fungi found belong to the genera Saccharomyces, 

 Cryptococcus, Coccidioides, Monilia, including in the last-mentioned 

 genus the following non-sufficient ly defined genera: Zymonema, 

 Parasaccharomyces , Parendomyces. The description of these fungi is 

 found in Chapter XXXIX., p. 1035. There are also higher, not yet 

 well-determined fungi, all of which are apparently capable of 



131 



