Which of the following organisms must always be worked with under a biological safety hood?

Which of the following stains greatly enhance the visibility of fungi by binding to the cell walls, causing the fungi to fluoresce?

The U.S. president can

A rapid growing (2-5 days) culture of fluffy blue-green colonies from a respiratory specimen obtained from an immunocompromised ICU patient showed septate hyaline hyphae with many conidiophores. The tips of the conidiophores expand into large dome-shaped vesicles with bottle-shaped phialides covering the upper half or two-thirds of its surface. Long chains of conidia are present at the ends of the phialides. At the base of the conidiophore, a “foot cell” is seen attaching the conidiophore to the septate hyphae. The most likely organism is?

Which stage of Coccidioides immitis is found in tissue?

A culture from a chronic interdigital lesion of the foot grew a mold that is yellow to buff on the surface with a red-brown reverse, rare pencil-shaped macroconidia, and numerous microconidia in grapelike clusters with some spiraling hyphae also observed.  The organism is also positive for both urease and in-vitro hair perforation.  This organism is most likely:

Which of the following procedures should be performed to confirm that an unknown mold is one of the pathogenic dimorphic fungi:

Compare and contrast Mucorales fungi from other opportunistic hyaline molds (i.e. Aspergillus spp.). How are they similar? How can the laboratory differentiate them? Can use specific organisms as examples in your response if you would like.

A 38 year old male from Ohio presented to his physician with a mild influenza-like illness that included a headache and malaise. A chest X-ray showed no infiltrates. His past medical history was unremarkable.  He had no history of travel but reported recently cleaning the bell tower at his church, which was littered with bird excrement (feces).  The most likely agent causing his disease is:

Choosing one of the following systemic fungi, describe it’s key characteristics: including the mode of transmission, natural habitat/endemic region, the clinical significance/disease state, and microscopic observations (both stages). Fungi to choose from: Histoplasma capsulatum, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Sporothrix schenckii, Coccidioides immitis.