|
Etiologic agents | Diagnostic methods |
|
Aspergillosis
| Pleural effusion or Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid |
(i) Direct examination, cultures, histopathologic demonstration |
(ii) Galactomannan antigen detection, Beta-D-glucan assay*, Polymerase chain reaction |
Serum |
(i) Aspergillus antibody test (precipitins) for chronic pulmonary aspergillosis |
(ii) Aspergillus IgG antibodies, Aspergillus IgE test (precipitins) |
(iii) Galactomannan and beta-D-glucan levels double sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) |
(iv) 1,3-Beta-D-glucan |
|
Candidiasis | Blood, CSF, Urine, or other body fluid |
(i) Isolating a Candida species from multiple or repeat cultures |
(ii) Beta-D-glucan and other antigen and metabolite assays |
(iii) Polymerase chain reaction |
|
Cryptococosis | Cerebrospinal fluid, Blood or Serum, BAL, Urine |
(i) India ink smear |
(ii) Culture |
(iii) latex agglutination test or enzyme linked immunosorbent for Cryptococcal antigen testing |
|
Mucormycosis | Sterile body fluid from site of infection |
(i) Histopathopathologic examination |
(ii) Culture |
|
Other fungal infection | Sterile body fluid from site of infection |
(i) Histopathopathologic examination |
(ii) Culture and isolation of fungal species in cultures of involved biologic materials |
|