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Fungi that cause serious lung infections are now found throughout the U.S.

Doctors should be on the lookout for the organisms, researchers say

An illustration of the spores of a soil fungi called Histoplasma.

A lung infection called histoplasmosis can be caused when the spores of soil fungi called Histoplasma (illustrated) are inhaled.

Roger Harris/Science Photo Library/Getty

By Tina Hesman Saey

Three types of fungi that cause serious lung infections and were once thought to be confined to certain regions of the United States are now widespread.

In 1955, Histoplasma fungi grew mainly in Midwest soil and in parts of the East and South, and that’s where histoplasmosis infections mainly occurred.