AN ABERRANT VARIANT OF HISTOPLASMA-CAPSULATUM VAR CAPSULATUM

We studied an aberrant culture of Histoplasma capsulatum var, capsulat um isolated from synovial fluid collected from the right elbow of a pa tient from Kansas, Colonies on Sabouraud glucose agar and other routin e mycological media were glabrous to soft, moist, heaped, deeply folde d or convoluted, and orange-brown with a white, irregular margin, Micr oscopically, hyphae were hyaline, septate, and branched and remained t otally devoid of conidiation over a period of 2 years on all mycologic al media, Conversion to the yeast form was achieved on Pine's medium a t 37 degrees C, Colonies at early stages of growth were smooth, moist, pasty, shiny, and orange-brown but soon became wrinkled and slightly raised and produced oval, thin-walled cells measuring 2 to 3 by 3 to 4 ,5 mu m which multiplied by polar budding, The identity of the isolate was further confirmed by utilizing the Accuprobe DNA probe and the ex oantigen test for H, capsulatum var, capsulatum.