Comparative evaluation of Fungitest®, Neo-Sensitabs® and M27T-NCCLS broth microdilution methods for antifungal drug susceptibility testing of Candida species and Cryptococcus neoformans

• Published in: Mycoses Vol. 42; no. 4; pp. 231 - 237
• Main Authors: Swinne, Danielle, Raes-Wuytack, Van Looveren, Desmet
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01-08-1999; Blackwell
• Subjects: Amphotericin B - pharmacology; Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents; Antifungal agents; Antifungal Agents - pharmacology; Biological and medical sciences; Candida - drug effects; Cryptococcus neoformans - drug effects; Fluconazole - pharmacology; Flucytosine - pharmacology; Humans; Itraconazole - pharmacology; Ketoconazole - pharmacology; Medical sciences; Miconazole - pharmacology; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic - microbiology; Fungi; Antifungal agent; Cryptococcus neoformans; Drug susceptibility test; Candida; Fungi Imperfecti; Clinical isolate; Comparative study; Thallophyta
• ISSN: 0933-7407; 1439-0507
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1439-0507.1999.00461.x

Two commercial antifungal susceptibility testing systems (Fungitest® and Neo‐Sensitabs®) were compared with the M27T‐NCCLS reference broth microdilution method using one hundred isolates of Candida sp. and Cryptococcus neoformans. Six different antifungal drugs were tested: amphotericin B, 5‐fluorocytosine, fluconazole, itraconazole, ketoconazole and miconazole. The overall agreement between the Fungitest and the reference methods was much better than between the Neo‐Sensitabs and the reference methods: the agreement for the Fungitest ranged from 100% for amphotericin B to 76.7% for itraconazole whereas for the Neo‐Sensitabs, it ranged from 90.4% for amphotericin B to 36% for ketoconazole. For the total number of tests performed with Neo‐Sensitabs, there were 37.8% of discrepancies with the reference method whereas for the tests performed with Fungitest, there was only 16.5% of discrepancies. Major discrepancies, defined as results that classified an isolate as susceptible by one method and resistant by another, occurred in 21 cases for the Neo‐Sensitabs test and only in four cases with the Fungitest, namely 0.6% of the cases. We conclude that the Fungitest method constitutes a simple and reliable procedure for antifungal drug susceptibility testing.