title: In vitro susceptibility of Cryptococcus neoformans clinical isolates from Egypt to seven antifungal drugs.
abstract: The in vitro susceptibility of 29 clinical isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans to fluconazole, miconazole, itraconazole, ketoconazole, flucytosine, nystatin and amphotericin B was tested by broth and colorimetric microdilution methods. Most of the isolates showed uniform patterns of susceptibility to the used antifungal agents. Only three isolates exhibited resistance [fourfold or greater rise in the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs)] to the tested antifungal drugs. The MIC50 and MIC90 were 0.5-8 mg l(-1) for 5-flucytosine, 0.2-8.25 mg l(-1) for nystatin, 0.5-16 mg l(-1) for fluconazole and 0.2-12.5 mg l(-1) for miconazole. However, MIC50 and MIC90 were in narrow range for the clinical yeast isolates in both methods used and showed 0.5-1 mg l(-1) for amphotericin B and 0.016-0.25 mg l(-1) for both ketoconazole and itraconazole. The combination of fluconazole plus flucytosine showed greater synergistic and fungicidal activity compared with that of fluconazole plus amphotericin B or the use of individual drugs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Zagazig, Zagazig, Egypt. hassan60eg@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Hassan A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Abdel-Salam
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003124:Colorimetry; D003453:Cryptococcosis / Q000382:microbiology; D003455:Cryptococcus neoformans / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004534:Egypt; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D015725:Fluconazole / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D017964:Itraconazole / Q000494:pharmacology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000379:methods; D012015:Reference Standards
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D017964:Itraconazole; D015725:Fluconazole