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

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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 β-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 µg/ml and 0.008–0.031 µg/ml, respectively), followed by amphotericin B (0.25–4 µg/ml), voriconazole (0.125–16 µg/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 µg/ml), in contrast only environmental isolates of A. tubingensis had high itraconazole MICs (>16 µg/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.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by a grant from the School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran (no. 1106) which we gratefully acknowledge. We are grateful to Iman Haghani for excellent technical assistance and help with antifungal susceptibility testing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Mycology and Parasitology, School of Medicine/Invasive Fungi Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

    Hamid Badali

  2. Student Research Committee, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

    Hamed Fakhim, Mojtaba Nabili, Afsane Vaezi & Nafiseh Poorzad

  3. Department of Medical Mycology and Parasitology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Fereshteh Zarei

  4. CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Somayeh Dolatabadi

  5. Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran

    Somayeh Dolatabadi

  6. Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Hossein Mirhendi

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  1. Hamid Badali
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  2. Hamed Fakhim
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  3. Fereshteh Zarei
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  4. Mojtaba Nabili
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  5. Afsane Vaezi
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  7. Somayeh Dolatabadi
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  8. Hossein Mirhendi
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Correspondence to Hossein Mirhendi.

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Badali, H., Fakhim, H., Zarei, F. et al. In Vitro Activities of Five Antifungal Drugs Against Opportunistic Agents of Aspergillus Nigri Complex. Mycopathologia 181, 235–240 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-015-9968-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-015-9968-0

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