Species: Bovine, equine, canine and cats

Specimen: Depends on site of infection, e.g. foetal stomach content in abortion cases, swabs from nasal infections, tissue biopsies.

Container: Sterile container with tissue, fluid, swab

Collection protocol: Depends on sample type may involve removal of cotyledons or tissue biopsy, aspiration of fluid, nasal swab.

Special handling/shipping requirements:  Dry swab samples are stable at room temperature. Other samples are to be transported and stored chilled. Do not freeze samples.

General information about the disease: Can cause site-specific mycotic disease e.g. mycotic abortion in cattle, guttural pouch mycosis in horses, nasal infections in dogs and cats. Infection is acquired from environmental sources, generally inhalation or ingestion. It is an opportunistic pathogen depending on impaired, overwhelmed or by-passed host defences to permit hyphal invasion of the tissues

Comparison with other related tests:  PCR provides rapid detection and specific identification of the organism. However, due to the ubiquitous nature of the organism histopathology with silver or PAS staining to demonstrate septate hyphae invading tissues, can provides further evidence of the organism’s involvement in the disease. Other methods of laboratory diagnosis include culture, which is less sensitive than PCR.