had done. If true, it would be another severe penalty Late Woodland people had to pay as they shifted to agriculture as a way of life, and it would be a contributing factor to shortening their lifespans compared to those of the Middle Woodland people. Blastomycosis was first described by Thomas Caspar Gilchrist in 1894, as a skin disease. Because of this, blastomycosis is sometimes called "Gilchrist's disease". Gilchrist initially identified the cause of the disease as a protozoan, but later correctly identified it as a fungus. In 1898 he and William Royal Stokes published the first description of Blastomyces dermatitidis. Gilchrist referred to the disease as "blastomycetic dermatitis". The systemic spread of blastomycosis was first described in 1902, in a case that had been misdiagnosed as a combination of tuberculosis and a blastomycosis skin infection. In 1907, the dimorphic nature of the Blastomyces fungus was first identified. In 1912, the first case of canine blastomycosis was reported. Prior to the 1930s, blastomycosis was not clearly distinguished from similar fungal conditions. A paper by Rhoda Williams Benham in 1934 distinguished the causative agent of blastomycosis from cryptococcosis and coccidioidomycosis. In the early 1950s, blastomycosis was first determined to be a primarily respiratory disease, with most skin lesions caused by systemic spread from an initial lung infection. In 1952, the first documented case outside North or Central America, in Tunisia, was reported. The 1950s also saw the first introduction of antifungal drugs including amphotericin B. Before 1950, the fatality rate for disseminated blastomycosis was 92%, and treatment options were limited to iodide compounds, radiation therapy, and surgery. The first azole antifungal drug, ketoconazole, was developed in the 1970s and approved in the United States in 1981. Prior to 2013, the only species known to cause blastomycosis was B. dermatitidis. Since that time, genomic analysis has identified multiple other Blastomyces species causing blastomycosis, including B. gilchristii (2013), B. helicus (reassigned from the genus Emmonsia in 2017), B. percursus (2017), and B. emzantsi (2020). Other animals Blastomycosis affects a broad range of mammals. As with humans, most animals that become infected were formerly healthy and immunocompetent. Dogs are frequently affected; blastomycosis is eight to ten times more common in dogs than in humans. Sporting and hound breeds are at the greatest risk. Cats and horses can also be infected. Cats with feline immunodeficiency virus are particularly at risk. However, the overall risk of