Fungal and animal-borne diseases outdoors: blastomycosis, histoplasmosis, rabies

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It is not medical advice and gives no treatment or first aid steps: the health agencies' own pages cover those. None of the pages below is written for tree work, so the table shows exactly which outdoor jobs each one names. Ticks, poison ivy and stings are on health hazards of tree work and ticks by region.

Three diseases and the jobs the sources name

Disease and source	What the source says
Blastomycosis, CDC (April 24, 2024)	The fungus lives in soil and decomposed wood. Forestry work is named, with excavation and other settings that disturb soil and plant matter. High winds are named as a risk.
Histoplasmosis, CDC (April 24, 2024)	The fungus lives in soil and spreads in bird and bat droppings that mix into it. Landscaping, yardwork, and outdoor and construction workers are named.
Rabies, CDC (January 27, 2026)	Spread mainly by bites or scratches. Bats, raccoons, skunks and foxes are the animals most often found with it in the United States.
Rabies, CCOHS	Names forestry personnel, forest rangers and hydro workers among occupations with wild animal exposure.
Rabies and bat lyssavirus, NSW Health (December 2025)	Names people who handle bats in Australia as the group at risk.

Blastomycosis

The CDC page on blastomycosis risk factors says the fungus lives in soil and decomposed wood in parts of the United States, without naming states. Among activities linked to infection it lists forestry work, digging and excavation, construction sites, and hunting, fishing and camping. It says people with weakened immune systems, including those taking corticosteroids or TNF-inhibitors, and pregnant people are at highest risk of severe illness.

Histoplasmosis

The CDC about histoplasmosis page says the fungus lives in soil and that bird and bat droppings mix into it. In the United States it is mainly in the central and eastern states. The CDC page on reducing risk for histoplasmosis says people get it by breathing in spores, that it cannot spread between people, and that most people who breathe in the spores do not get sick. It names cleaning chicken coops, exploring caves, tearing down old buildings, landscaping and yardwork, and outdoor and construction workers. It lists adults over 55 and infants among higher-risk groups, with people who have HIV/AIDS, organ transplants or corticosteroid use.

Rabies in the United States and Canada

The CDC about rabies page says contact with infected bats causes at least 7 of every 10 human rabies deaths in the United States, that fewer than 10 human deaths are reported each year, and that around 100,000 Americans receive vaccination after a possible exposure each year. It says more than 90% of reported animal rabies cases are in wildlife. The CCOHS page Rabies says 28 people have died of it in Canada since reporting began in 1924, including a death in Ontario in 2024 from an infected bat. It says rabies is rarely found in rodents such as squirrels, chipmunks and mice, and that contact with the blood, urine or manure of a rabid animal is not a risk factor. It also says the virus is not infectious once it has dried out or been exposed to sunlight.

Bat lyssavirus in Australia

The NSW Health rabies and Australian bat lyssavirus factsheet says rabies virus does not occur in land-living animals in Australia, while the related bat lyssavirus does occur in bats. It records four human cases since 1996, all after bites or scratches from bats. It says any bat in Australia could carry it, that contact with bat faeces, urine or blood does not pose a risk if bats are not handled, and that only vaccinated, trained people should handle bats.