Comparative Aspects of Ocular Blastomycosis

To the Editor.  —We read with interest the article by Lewis and colleagues¹ concerning blastomycosis in a patient from Wisconsin. The authors adequately described diagnosis and successful treatment with systemic amphotericin B. However, we were puzzled by the complete absence of reference to the veterinary literature and the omission of a discussion of the disease in dogs. As veterinary ophthalmologists practicing at a referral institution in Wisconsin, we examine many dogs with naturally occurring ocular blastomycosis. The dog is a natural host for this systemic mycotic disease, and the incidence is about ten times higher in the canine population than in humans. There are a number of excellent review articles concerning canine (and feline) blastomycosis that describe in detail the ophthalmic,² epidemiologic,³ and diagnostic⁴ aspects of the disease. Although we can expect differences in approach to the human cases compared with the animal cases, there remains