ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF ITRACONAZOLE AGAINST CLINICAL ISOLATES OF ASPERGILLUS SPP. AND FUSARIUM SPP.

Abstract
The antifungal activity of itraconazole was studied in 101 clinical isolates of Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus candidus, Aspergillus glaucus, Aspergillus clavatus, Fusarium solani, Fusarium oxysporum and Fusarium semitectum. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were determined according to the protocol of the M38-P National Committee for Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) document using a microdilution method in 1640 RPMI liquid medium (visual reading at 48 and 72 h incubation). In general, the MIC did not vary with time of incubation, except in a A. fumigatus strain in which the MIC went from 2 to 16 mg/l. The geometric mean of the MIC and MIC90 of itraconazole for Aspergillus spp. was 0.44 mg/l and 0.5 mg/l, respectively; and for Fusarium spp. it was 14.1 mg/l and 16 mg/l, respectively. With 0.5 mg/l 75% of the Aspergillus spp. strains were inhibited, and 100% of these strains were inhibited with 2 mg/l. A. niger and A. fumigatus were the most resistant species (MIC90 2 mg/l). The MIC of all the Fusarium strains tested was between 4 and 16 mg/l.

Key words
Antifungal drugs - Susceptibility - Opportunistic filamentous fungi - Aspergillus - Fusarium – Itraconazole.

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