Animal models of blastomycosis.

Mice offer many advantages as a model system for the study of experimental blastomycosis. The murine model has allowed quantitative assessments of disease initiation and progression. These methods of assessment have enabled studies of histopathology, and of the effect of age, host genetic background, fungal isolate virulence, and different routes of challenge on the outcome of infection. The model has been a particularly fertile soil for researching dissection of the immune response to fungal infections and the study of new agents (particularly polyenes and azoles) for the treatment of the mycoses.