Prevention
A commercially available vaccine against blastomycosis does not currently exist, although the science is advancing. Wuthrich et al. (2000, 2011) developed a recombinant, live-attenuated vaccine using an avirulent, genetically engineered strain of B.
Bermatitidis lacking Blastomyces adhesin-1 (BAD-1, previously called WI-1), an essential virulence factor. This vaccine has been demonstrated to be protective against experimental blastomycosis in mice (Wuthrich et al. 2000), although efficacy in dogs has not yet been established. Experimental infection and a field study of beagles and foxhounds, respectively, demonstrated acceptable safety and immunogenicity (Wuthrich et al. 2011). Adverse reactions included fever, lymphadenopathy, and draining cutaneous lesions at the site of inoculation (Wuthrich et al. 2011); these may limit use in all but highly enzootic regions.
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