Reactivity of fungal organisms in tissue sections using anti-mycobacteria antibodies

Sixty-four cases of deep fungal infections diagnosed using PAS or silver stains and 18 control cases of sarcoidosis, M. tuberculosis and M. leprae infection were stained using commercial polyclonal antibody raised against M. paratuberculosis (MP), M. Duvalii (MD), and Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG). Nine of 13 cases of sporotrichosis stained positively using anti-MP antibody only; 13 of 14 cases of histoplasmosis stained with anti-BCG, anti-MD, and anti-MP; seven cases of cryptococcosis had only focal staining of rare individual organisms within masses of negative organisms; seven of eight cases of coccidioidomycosis stained predominantly with anti-BCG and anti-MP; eight cases of aspergillus had focal (1 to 5% of organisms) staining of hyphae with anti-BCG and anti-MD; and four of 12 cases of Candida infection showed focal nonspecific staining with both antibodies and nonimmune serum. Control cases of sarcoidosis exhibited no staining with any of the three antibodies, whereas cases of mycobacterial infection showed staining of bacilli and intracellular debris with all three antibodies.