What the risks are:

See: Lumbar puncture

Special considerations:

In some cases, this test may be done as a blood test. See also: Coccidioides complement fixation.

In the initial stage of an illness, few antibodies may be detected. Antibody production increases during the course of an infection. For this reason, such tests are often repeated several weeks after the first test is done.

Note: While an abnormal result on the spinal fluid test specifically means that the central nervous system is infected, an abnormal result on the blood test does not pinpoint the exact area of infection. It only means that there is a coccidioides infection somewhere in the body.