The quality of the specimen taken is a major factor in success or otherwise of microscopy and culture. Having a specimen taken should be painless apart from occasional slight discomfort when subungual specimens are taken. The figure shows the appropriate sites from which nail specimens should be obtained.
Mucous containing Charcot-Leyden crystals, stained with H & EA 57 year old woman presented with breathlessness. She had a history of mild asthma for which she occasionally took salbutamol inhaler puffs. The patient underwent a pneumonectomy because of the severity of her disease process, and uncertainty about the diagnosis, prior to serology results being obtained.Serology showed an IgE of 2600, with a strongly positive Aspergillus RAST test and weakly positive Aspergillus precipitins. Material re
