TORULOPSIS-GLABRATA - AZOLE SUSCEPTIBILITIES BY MICRODILUTION COLORIMETRIC AND MACRODILUTION BROTH ASSAYS

Fluconazole and itraconazole MICs were determined by both the standard macrodilution method of the National Committee for Clinical Laborator y Standards and a colorimetric broth microdilution method for 140 isol ates of Torulopsis (Candida) glabrata obtained over a 15-year period. Using the method of the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Sta ndards the MICs at which 90% of isolates are inhibited (MIC(90)s) for all isolates were 32 and 1.6 mu g/ml for fluconazole and itraconazole, respectively. For fluconazole, the MIC(9)0 rose from 16 to > 64 mu g/ ml when the MIC(90)s for isolates collected from July 1980 to June 199 1 were compared with those for isolates collected from July 1991 to Ma rch 1995, For itraconazole, the MIC(90)s for isolates from the same ti me periods were 0.8 and 3.2 mu g/ml, respectively. Although for isolat es from some non-human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients the MI Cs rose, most of the high MICs were found for isolates from human immu nodeficiency virus-infected patients who had been extensively treated with azole drugs for thrush, The colorimetric method yielded endpoints that were more definitive; concordances within 2 dilutions for the tw o methods were 87% for fluconazole and 86% for itraconazole.