Antifungal Drug Susceptibility Testing of Prototheca Isolated from Pediatric Patients Zaki Maysaa El Sayed*, Elshabrawy Walaa Othman Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt *Corressponding Author: may_s65@hotmail.com
Online published on 20 July, 2012. Abstract Background The involvement of Prototheca spp. in human disease in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients has been reported with increasing frequency. The rising prevalence of serious fungal infections and antifungal drug resistance has created an increased demand for reliable methods of in vitro testing of antifungal agents that can assist in their clinical use. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify some of the unusual emerging opportunistic fungal pathogens and to investigate the in vitro susceptibility of Prototheca isolates to conventional antifungal agents. Materials and Methods Fifty one clinical yeast isolates were tested, including Prototheca species (27), Candida albicans (7), Candida tropicalis (5), Candida parapsilosis (3), Candida stellatoidea (3), Candida famata (1), Cryptococcus laurentii (3) and Trichsporon beigelii (2) for in vitro antifungal drugs susceptibility by broth microdilution (BMD) method described in Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) M27-A3 document against amphotericin B (AMB), fluconazole (FLC), ketoconazole (KTC) and itraconazole (ITC). Results Prototheca species showed 92.6% sensitivity to amphotericin B followed by 77.8%, 74.1%, 70.4% to fluconazole, itraconazole and ketoconazole, respectively. All Candida species except C. tropicalis and C. albicans and Cryptococcus laurentii species demonstrated 100% sensitivity to amphotericin B, fluconazole and ketoconazole. While, C. albicans, C. stellatoidea and C. parapsilosis species demonstrated 100% to itraconazole. Conclusion The most frequently isolated species were Prototheca followed by Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis. Among the used drugs for in vitro susceptibility testing, amphotericin B displayed the best sensitivity against Prototheca spp. and other yeasts with variability in azoles susceptibility. Top Keywords Prototheca spp, Antifungal drugs, CLSI M27-A3. Top |