Antifungal susceptibility profile of Rhodotorula species from Ahvaz

Introduction and Objectives: Rhodotorula species are common airborne contaminant fungi and also considered as normal inhabitants in the skin, lungs, urine and feces in humans. The most common species of Rhodotorula are; R. mucilaginosa, R. glutinis and R. minuta. Rhodotorula species considered as an important agent for invasive infection among immunocompromised patients. Both amphotericin B and flucytosine have good activity against Rhodotorula in vitro, whereas fluconazole is inactive. There are few studies in the literature on the susceptibility Rhodotorula against antifungal drugs. In the present study sensitivity profile of Rhodotorula species were evaluated against several antifungal agents including; amphotericine B, nystatin, miconazole, clotrimazole, fluconazole and terbinafine. Materials and Methods: In the present study 69 isolates of Rhodotorula including; R. glutinis (59), R. mucilaginosa (5), R. minuta (3) and Rhodotorula species (2) were examined for susceptibility tests against amphotericine B, nystatin, clotrimazole, miconazole, terbinafine, and fluconazole antifungals. In vitro susceptibility testing was performed by the method disc diffusion. The antifungal agents used in the study were as follows: amphotericin B, fluconazole, itraconazole, ketoconazole, nystatin and lamisil. The beginning of 24-hour culture of yeast was prepared a suspension equivalent to a 0.5 McFarland. 100 μl of the suspension was inoculated on Sabouraud dextrose agar medium and this was spread evenly on the surface medium. Discs containing antifungal agents were placed on medium. The inhibition zone was evaluated after 24-48 hours manually. Results: In the present study 65 (94. 2%) of isolates were sensitive to clotrimazole followed by nystatin 49 (71.0%), miconazole 46 (66.7%), amphotericine B 29 (42.0%) and terbinafine 18 (26.1%). In our study, 26 (37.7%) of isolates were resistance to terbinafine whereas resistance to miconazole was only detected in 1 (1.4%) of isolates. All tested isolates were resistance to fluconazole. Conclusion: All the tested antifungal agents, except fluconazole, were effective against the tested strain of Rhodotorula in vitro. Based on this result we can state that all the antifungal agents tested, excep

Rhodotorula, R. mucilaginosa, Susceptibility profile, Antifungals