Clinical Testing Guidance for Coccidioidomycosis, Histoplasmosis, and Blastomycosis in Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia

CDC, Mycoses Study Group, and Coccidioidomycosis Study Group developed this guidance with a multi-disciplinary team of infectious diseases physicians, primary care practitioners, urgent care practitioners, and epidemiologists.

Clinicians in urgent care and outpatient settings can use these algorithms to help make determinations about clinical testing for coccidioidomycosis, histoplasmosis, and blastomycosis in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). The algorithms address an important gap in guidelines for CAP diagnosis by providing recommendations for primary care, outpatient, and urgent care providers for diagnosing fungal pneumonias. Existing guidelines for CAP diagnosis focus on bacterial and viral CAP.

Patient living in or having traveled to a blastomycosis-endemic area: United States east of the Mississippi

Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP): Clinical Testing Algorithm for Blastomycosis

map of continental US showing places where patients live or having traveled to a coccidiodomycosis endemic area - mostly west of the Mississippi

Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP): Clinical Testing Algorithm for Coccidioidomycosis

Patient living in or having traveled to a histoplasmosis-endemic area - eastern continental U.S.

Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP): Clinical Testing Algorithm for Histoplasmosis

See Clinical Infectious Diseases publication, Clinician Outreach and Communications Activity Call, and Medscape Article covering the coccidioidomycosis, histoplasmosis, and blastomycosis algorithm.