Abstract: The present invention combines detection and identification of H. capsulatum in one step, eliminating the need to use DNA probes to react with PCR products in order to distinguish different types of fungi. The purpose of the invention is to provide compounds and methods to directly and specifically identify H. capsulatum in clinical specimens. Specifically, we provide a unique nucleotide sequence from the rRNA gene internal transcribed spacer region I (ITSI) of H. capsulatum and a PCR method which amplifies the unique sequence of H. capsulatum.