A rapid growing (2-5 days) culture of fluffy blue-green colo…

A rapid growing (2-5 days) culture of fluffy blue-green colonies from a respiratory specimen obtained from an immunocompromised ICU patient showed septate hyaline hyphae with many conidiophores. The tips of the conidiophores expand into large dome-shaped vesicles with bottle-shaped phialides covering the upper half or two-thirds of its surface. Long chains of conidia are present at the ends of the phialides. At the base of the conidiophore, a “foot cell” is seen attaching the conidiophore to the septate hyphae. The most likely organism is?

A rapidly growing, sparsely septate mold produced colonies w…

A rapidly growing, sparsely septate mold produced colonies with a grey surface resembling cotton candy that covered the entire plate. Microscopic examination revealed sporangiophores arising between, not opposite, the rhizoids and producing pear-shaped sporangia. What is the most likely identification?

A culture from a chronic interdigital lesion of the foot gre…

A culture from a chronic interdigital lesion of the foot grew a mold that is yellow to buff on the surface with a red-brown reverse, rare pencil-shaped macroconidia, and numerous microconidia in grapelike clusters with some spiraling hyphae also observed.  The organism is also positive for both urease and in-vitro hair perforation.  This organism is most likely:

An immunocompromised patient from the mid-west became severe…

An immunocompromised patient from the mid-west became severely anemic.  A bone marrow sample showed macrophages with numerous small oval yeast cells inside.  Lung tissue biopsy also showed alveolar macrophages with intracellular budding yeast.  Similar organisms were seen in biopsy samples of the spleen and liver.  The fungal culture demonstrated large macroconidia with finger-like projections and some small, oval microconidia.  The most likely organism involved is: