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[Wilson3]

i have been wondering

since jen has been talking about beaver damns and beavers
we all know that the damns are hot spots for blasto

my question is dont the beavers get blasto?
how are they making it?
any ideas?

i was thinking just maybe their systems have somthing we do not??

[mhitesman]

http://www.miravistalabs.com/Files/pdf/BlastomycosisinDogs2007.pdf

The annual incidence was 1420 cases per 100,000
dogs in a highly-endemic area [2]. Proximity to
waterways and exposure to excavation were
significant risk factors but age, sex, hunting,
swimming and exposure to beavers were not. While
most cases occur in dogs with extensive outdoor
exposure, cases also may be seen in indoor pets [1].

I have (or had -- they have moved upstream now) beavers (but not dams) on my property when Comet was diagnosed with blasto.  Comet's eye was sent to the U or Wisconsin when it was removed, and I established a contact there. This doctor told me that they believe beaver dams are not a particular concern or at least not as much as the waterway and banks.  I have found other articles where, for example, 4 beaver dams were checked, 2 had blasto spores in the mud used to construct the dam.  There was no information regarding whether these dams were all in the same geographical area, same time of year, ...and 4 is, of course, not a large sample so I am not sure it proves anything.  But then, none of us really gets to see much proof on this subject, do we?

Having said all this, I don't want my dogs messing with beaver dams.   I fear blasto or other fungus infection there, but the beaver, himself, is still the biggest threat to my dog's life in that situation.

[luvmyjacks]

I'm with you.  Will is not the brightest light and I swear he would drown trying to take out a beaver and from what I can see out back if they sure could do some serious damage with those big teeth.  Now I'm looking at every place as a blasto hot spot! 
My post about the indoor cat has me in shock.  The vet who treated the cat assured me there was no chance the cat got it outside, there were no plants with mulch hauled in out of the cold.  Now we have to fear THE HOUSE.

[Jen]

I had looked at one interesting case (it's Pubmed) that is pretty old, but still relevant to the topic of beaver dams/ponds.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3945290

Isolation of Blastomyces dermatitidis in soil associated with a large outbreak of blastomycosis in Wisconsin.

In investigating six cases of blastomycosis in two school groups that had separately visited an environmental camp in northern Wisconsin in June 1984, we identified a large outbreak of the disease and isolated Blastomyces dermatitidis from soil at a beaver pond near the camp. Of 89 elementary-school children and 10 adults from the two groups, 48 (51 percent) of the 95 evaluated in September had blastomycosis. Of the cases, 26 (54 percent) were symptomatic (the median incubation period was 45 days; range, 21 to 106 days). No cases were identified in 10 groups that visited the camp two weeks before or after these two groups. A review of camp itineraries, a questionnaire survey, and environmental investigation showed that blastomycosis occurred in two of four groups that visited a beaver pond and in none of eight groups that did not. Walking on the beaver lodge (P = 0.008) and picking up items from its soil (P = 0.05) were associated with illness. Cultures of soil from the beaver lodge and decomposed wood near the beaver dam yielded B. dermatitidis. We conclude that B. dermatitidis in the soil can be a reservoir for human infection.
PMID: 3945290 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

I was also reviewing Dr. Friedlander's notes on Blasto, and he sez, "One good way to catch the bug is to mess around in a beaver dam."

He also says about South American Blastomycosis: "Most victims are male agricultural workers, especially in the Amazon basin. The victim usually has picked his teeth with a piece of jungle wood." 
Wow, uck.

[Wilson3]

but what about the beavers how do they survive living so close to blasto
the links where great info
thanks
wilson3

[Jen]

So far I haven't found any information about it.