In general, methods to test the susceptibility of fungi to antifungal drugs require standardized techniques, but so far there is no methodology that is widely applicable to dermatophytes. Here we introduced modifications to the protocols from documents of the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (CLSI) M38-A and the Antifungal Susceptibility Testing Subcommittee of the European ...

The in vitro antifungal susceptibility of 77 isolates belonging to different clinically relevant species of Aspergillus section Flavi, including those of different phylogenetic clades of A. flavus, was tested for nine antifungal agents using a microdilution reference method (CLSI, M38-A2). Terbinafine and the echinocandins demonstrated lower MICs/MECs for all species evaluated, followed by posa...

Onychomycosis is a fungal nail infection which is relatively common and difficult to treat. Treatment modalities include nail avulsion, surgical debridement and combination therapy with oral and topical antifungal drugs. In spite of a host of available drugs, clinical cure rates remain discouraging. Drug toxicities, prolonged regimens, lack of patient compliance, and high keratin affinity of dr...

Microbial biofilms contribute to virulence and resistance to antibiotics by shielding microbial cells from host defenses and antimicrobial drugs, respectively. Cryptococcus neoformans was demonstrated to form biofilms in polystyrene microtiter plates. The numbers of CFU of disaggregated biofilms, 2,3-bis(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-5-[(phenylamino)carbonyl]-2H-tetrazolium hydroxide reducti...

OBJECTIVES To examine whether in vitro antifungal susceptibility test results correlate with in vivo efficacy of two cyclodextrin-solubilized itraconazole formulations (intravenous and oral) against Candida in a murine model of invasive infection. METHODS A selected set of 12 Candida spp. strains with various itraconazole susceptibilities were tested. We studied the efficacy of intravenous an...

The current development of potent antifungal drugs necessitates reliable methods of in vitro susceptibility testing of clinical isolates. Other laboratories have noted with some antimicrobials that conventional tube dilution visual end points for determining minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) vary markedly with the inoculum. With seven isolates (four species) we compared the conventional m...

Ninety-nine isolates of clinical origin, tentatively identified as Scopulariopsis or Microascus, were morphologically and molecularly characterized by a combined analysis of the D1/D2 domains of the 28S rRNA gene and a fragment of the elongation factor 1-α gene (EF1-α) sequences. The most prevalent species was Scopulariopsis brevicaulis (49.4%), followed by Scopulariopsis gracilis (14.4%), Scop...

Background: Fungal corneal ulcer is the most dangerous and challenging type of infective keratitis.  Since most of the ophthalmic antifungal drops are scarce and expensive in developing countries, attempts have been made to study fungicidal property of some readily available antiseptic agents as a substitute.  Povidone iodine (PI) and chlorhexidine gluconate (CHx) has been postulated to be effe...

In recent years, Geosmithia argillacea has been increasingly reported in humans and animals and can be considered an emerging pathogen. The taxonomy of Geosmithia was recently studied, and Geosmithia argillacea and related species were transferred to the new genus Rasamsonia. The diversity among a set of Rasamsonia argillacea strains, including 28 clinical strains, was studied, and antifungal s...

Abstract New N2O2 type Schiff base has been designed and synthesized by condensing 2,4 dihydroxy benzaldehyde and α-naphthylamine in ethanol. Solid metal complexes of the schiff base with Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) metal ion were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, magnetic susceptibility, molar conductance, IR, UV-Vis and ‘H NMR spectral studies. The data shows that the c...