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Sertaconazole: in-vitro antifungal activity against vaginal and other superficial yeast isolates

A J Carrillo-Muñoz1, S Brió, G Quindós

  • 1Dept. Microbiología, ACIA, Barcelona, Spain. acarrillo17@terra.es

Journal of Chemotherapy (Florence, Italy)
|January 5, 2002
PubMed

Insights

Sertaconazole (STZ) demonstrated high in vitro antifungal activity against clinical yeast isolates, with only 0.5% resistance. This suggests STZ

Area of Science:

  • Mycology
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Superficial fungal infections, particularly those caused by yeasts, remain a significant clinical challenge.
  • A wide array of antifungal agents are available, but resistance and varying efficacy necessitate ongoing research into new or improved treatments.
  • Candida species and other yeasts are common etiological agents of vaginal and superficial cutaneous infections.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the in vitro antifungal activity of sertaconazole (STZ) against a diverse collection of clinical yeast isolates.
  • To compare the susceptibility of these yeast strains to STZ with their susceptibility to ten other established antifungal agents.
  • To assess the potential of STZ as a therapeutic option for superficial fungal infections.

Main Methods:

  • A commercial agar diffusion method was employed to determine the in vitro susceptibilities of 183 clinical yeast isolates.
  • Isolates were sourced from vaginal and other superficial clinical samples, encompassing 18 species of Candida and five strains from other yeast genera.
  • Susceptibility testing was performed for sertaconazole (STZ) alongside clotrimazole (CTZ), econazole (ECZ), ketoconazole (KTZ), miconazole (MNZ), fluconazole (FLZ), itraconazole (ITZ), tioconazole (TCZ), amphotericin B (AMB), and flucytosine (5FC).

Main Results:

  • Sertaconazole (STZ) exhibited a high rate of susceptibility, with 87.4% of strains (n=160) being susceptible and only one strain (0.5%) showing resistance.
  • The percentage of susceptible strains to STZ was notably higher than for most other evaluated antifungal agents.
  • Specific Candida species, including Candida albicans and Candida dubliniensis, displayed favorable susceptibility patterns to STZ compared to several other antifungals.

Conclusions:

  • In vitro data strongly indicate that sertaconazole (STZ) possesses significant antifungal activity against a broad spectrum of clinically relevant yeasts.
  • The high susceptibility rates and lower resistance observed with STZ suggest its considerable therapeutic potential for treating yeast infections.
  • Further clinical trials are recommended to validate the in vitro findings and confirm the clinical efficacy of sertaconazole in human subjects.

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