Avian blood may contain various disease agents, including viruses, bacteria, rickettsiae, protozoa, microfilariae, and rarely fungi. These organisms can be identified by microscopic examination of wet mounts, buffy coat, or blood smears or by appropriate culturing and molecular techniques. Microscopically, some are within blood cells (Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon, Isospora , Hepatozoon, Babesia, Aegyptianella), whereas others are free in the plasma (Trypanosoma, microfilariae, bacteria, spirochetes). None live exclusively in the blood; most are found in tissues but are present in blood during part of their life cycle. Some, such as microfilariae and Plasmodium, have numbers or stages of parasites that vary with time.