Ms. Bartlett et al., PNEUMOCYSTIS-CARINII IS RESISTANT TO IMIDAZOLE ANTIFUNGAL AGENTS, Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 38(8), 1994, pp. 1859-1861
Because Pneumocystis carinii is closely related to fungi, drugs useful
for treating mycoses have been considered for use in the treatment of
P. carinii pneumonia. Six antifungal imidazole drugs were tested for
their activities against P. carinii in a short-term culture screen and
in animals. None of the imidazoles tested was effective in inoculated
infected rats, and only miconazole showed slight effects in culture a
t the high concentration of 10 mu g/ml. Analysis of cell membranes fro
m culture-grown P. carinii showed that ergosterol, the target for this
class of antifungal agents, was absent, so that the lack of effect of
these agents is rational.