This fungus is an Epicoccum species, ubiquitous in nature, distributed globally, and commonly found in soil. It does not typically cause infection, but is frequently encountered in patient samples as an environmental contaminant. The conidia (pink) come bursting off a dense mass of conidiophores and hyphae (blue) called a sporodochium. This is a lactophenol cotton blue tape prep viewed through an Olympus BX45 by Eileen Rojas, Clinical Microbiologist at Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, USA, and photographed with an iPhone 5S.
This particular specimen came from the inside of a Volkswagen Jetta. The colors have been inverted for additional enhancement.
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