In Vitro Activities of Five Antifungal Drugs Against Opportunistic Agents of Aspergillus Nigri Complex

Abstract

Black aspergilli, particularly Aspergillus niger and A. tubingensis, are the most common etiological agents of otomycosis followed by onychomycosis, pulmonary aspergillosis and aspergilloma. However, so far there is no systematic study on their antifungal susceptibility profiles. A collection of 124 clinical and environmental species of black aspergilli consisted of A. niger, A. tubingensis, A. uvarum. A. acidus and A. sydowii were verified by DNA sequencing of the partial beta-tubulin gene. MICs of amphotericin B, itraconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, and MECs of caspofungin were performed based on CLSI M38-A2. Posaconazole and caspofungin had the lowest MIC range (0.016-0.125 A mu g/ml and 0.008-0.031 A mu g/ml, respectively), followed by amphotericin B (0.25-4 A mu g/ml), voriconazole (0.125-16 A mu g/ml) and itraconazole (0.25 to > 16) in an increasing order. Some strains of A. niger showed high MIC value for itraconazole and voriconazole (> 16 A mu g/ml), in contrast only environmental isolates of A. tubingensis had high itraconazole MICs (> 16 A mu g/ml). These results confirm that posaconazole and caspofungin are potential drugs for treatment of aspergillosis due to opportunistic agents of Aspergillus Nigri complex. However, in vivo efficacy remains to be determined.