ESCANABA, Mich. — A contract worker at a northern Michigan paper mill has died from a fungal infection that has forced the business to temporarily close for deep cleaning. The death was announced Friday in a release by public health officials in Delta and Menominee counties which said the worker died as a result of blastomycosis infection. The person’s name and a date of the death were not released. Company officials on Thursday said the Billerud Paper Mill in Escanaba, which employs more than 800 people, will close for up to three weeks for scrubbing after authorities confirmed at least 21 cases of blastomycosis among workers since March and dozens more probable cases.  …Billerud said in a statement that an industrial outbreak of the fungus has not been “documented anywhere in the U.S.”

Additional coverage: Billerud idling of the Escanaba Mill for up to three weeks