Blastomycosis Diagnosis and Testing
Smear from a foot lesion showing a Blastomyces dermatitidis yeast cell.
There are multiple tests available to diagnose blastomycosis. The best way to diagnose the infection is to perform a fungal culture. Doctors take small samples from tissues or body fluids, such as blood, sputum, bone marrow, liver, or skin and see if the fungus will grow from these samples in a laboratory. Blastomycosis can also be diagnosed by looking at a small sample of infected tissue under a microscope. An antigen test can detect the presence of the fungus in a urine or serum sample, and a blood test can measure prior exposure to the fungus by detecting Blastomyces antibodies.
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