Nonculture diagnostic methods for invasive fungal infections

Abstract

Nonculture methods are useful when diagnosing several systemic or invasive mycoses. Commercially available methods include immunoassays to detect cell wall or capsular polysaccharides; zymogen-based colorimetric assays to detect (1→3)-β-D-glucan, another cell wall polysaccharide; and molecular methods to detect fungal DNA. Molecular diagnostic methods have received much attention in the last decade but their accuracy has not been established, in part because of a lack of standardized, commercially available reagents or test kits. Serologic tests for antibodies are useful for diagnosis of histoplasmosis and coccidioidomycosis. Copyright © 2007 by Current Medicine Group LLC.