Therapeutic efficacy of itraconazole in systemic candidosis in guinea pigs

Fifty non-immunocompromised guinea pigs were infected by the intravenous route with 8,000 blastospores of Candida albicans per gram body weight: 26 were treated orally with the excipient, 12 with itraconazole at 1.25 mg X kg-1 and 12 at 5 mg X kg-1, once daily for 14 days starting on the day of infection. Hematology was checked for all animals before infection and on days 7, 14 and 17 after infection. Histopathological examinations were done for 2 animals of each group on days 7, 14 and 17. The infection and the therapeutic efficacy were checked by clinical observation, at autopsy and by cultures of organs. Itraconazole was highly active at both concentrations, resulting in clinical cure, negativation of cultures, normalisation of the blood picture and absence of fungal elements and presence of only small remnants of lesions on days 14 and 17 in some organs. No drug-related side effects were observed.