Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Isolation of Culturable Yeasts and Molds from Soils to Investigate Fungal Population Structure
Published on: May 27, 2022
Activity of antibiotics against Fusarium and Aspergillus
1Department of Ophthalmology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
Background/Aims:
To study the susceptibility of Fusarium and Aspergillus isolated from keratitis to amoxicillin, cefazolin, chloramphenicol, moxifloxacin, tobramycin and benzalkonium chloride (BAK).
Methods:
10 isolates of Fusarium and 10 isolates of Aspergillus from cases of fungal keratitis at Aravind Eye Hospital in South India were tested using microbroth dilution for susceptibility to amoxicillin, cefazolin, chloramphenicol, moxifloxacin, tobramycin and BAK. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) median and 90th percentile were determined.
Results:
BAK had the lowest MIC for both Fusarium and Aspergillus. Chloramphenicol had activity against both Fusarium and Aspergillus, while moxifloxacin and tobramycin had activity against Fusarium but not Aspergillus.
Conclusions:
The susceptibility of Fusarium to tobramycin, moxifloxacin, chloramphenicol and BAK and of Aspergillus to chloramphenicol and BAK may explain anecdotal reports of fungal ulcers that improved with antibiotic treatment alone. While some of the MICs of antibiotics and BAK are lower than the typically prescribed concentrations, they are not in the range of antifungal agents such as voriconazole, natamycin and amphotericin B. Antibiotics may, however, have a modest effect on Fusarium and Aspergillus when used as initial treatment prior to identification of the pathological organism.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Antifungal Agents
Fungal Phylum Ascomycota
Fungal Group Zygomycota
Production of Antibiotics
Overview of Fungi
Gene Regulation in Microbial Communities: Quorum Sensing

