The Potency of Luliconazole, against Clinical and Environmental Aspergillus Nigri Complex

ABSTRACT Black aspergilli are, the most causes of otomycosis and Aspergillus niger and A. tubingensis are two more frequently isolates. Although, amphotericin B was a gold standard for the treatment of invasive fungal infection for several decades, it replaced by fluconazole and /or voriconazole. Luliconazole, appears to offer the potential for in vitro activity against black aspergilli. The aim of the present study was to compare the in vitro activity of a novel antifungal agent, luliconazole, with commonly used antifungals against clinical and environmental strains of black aspergilli. Sixty seven strains of black aspergilli were identified using morphological and molecular tests (β-Tubulin gene). Antifungal susceptibility test was applied according to CLSI M38 A2. The results were reported as MIC/MEC range, MIC/MEC50, MIC/MEC90 and MIC/MECGM. It was found that the lowest MIC range, MIC50, MIC90, and MICGM was attributed to luliconazole in clinical strains. Aspergillus niger was the common isolate followed by, A. tubingensis and 54.1% (clinical) and 30% (environmental) of isolates were resistant to caspofungin. The highest resistant rate was found in amphotericin B for both clinical (86.5%) and environmental (96.7%) strains. Clinical strains of Aspergillus were more sensitive to voriconazole (86.7%) than environmental strains (70.3%). On the other hand, 83.8% of clinical and 70% of environmental isolates were resistant to posaconazole, respectively. In conclusion, luliconazole compare to routine antifungals is a potent antifungal for A. niger complex in vitro. The MIC range, MIC50, MIC90 and MICGM of luliconazole against black aspergilli were the lowest among the representative tested antifungals.