Study of suppressive effect of intravenous fluconazole on endogenous Candida endophthalmitis in rabbits

The effect of intravenous fluconazole on endogenous Candida endophthalmitis in rabbits was investigated. Preventive and therapeutic experiments were carried out. In the preventive series, rabbits were injected intravenously with 5 mg/kg of fluconazole at 30 minutes, 1 day and 2 days after intravenous inoculation with Candida albicans spores. The control group received no medication. No treated rabbits developed ocular lesions and no Candida spores were isolated from the treated eyes. On the other hand, all control rabbits developed bilateral chorioretinitis and C. albicans was isolated invariably from the control eyes. In the therapeutic series, intravenous fluconazole (5 mg/kg body weight) was administered from 3 to 6 days after inoculation. All rabbits developed chorioretinitis and Candida spores were isolated from all eyes. Therefore, the results of this study prove that intravenous fluconazole is more effective in preventive use than in therapeutic use against endogenous Candida endophthalmitis in rabbits.