[The use of exoantigens for identifying Histoplasma capsulatum].

The exoantigen test has been successfully used in the last years for the immunological identification of pathogenic fungi. Twenty seven straing presumptively identified as Histoplasma capsulatum by morphologic methods, were studied by such test. The exoantigens obtained from each strain were studied by immunoprecipitation technique in front of histoplasmosis control sera experimentally obtained in rabbits. Reference strains of Histoplasma capsulatum. Histoplasma duboisii and Paracoccidioides brasiliensis were used. Of the strains studied, 96% was identified as H. capsulatum by the exoantigen test, a simple, rapid and highly specific technique greatly useful in the laboratories of Microbiology.