In-vitro antifungal activity of sertaconazole, bifonazole, ketoconazole, and miconazole against yeasts of the Candida genus

The in-vitro antifungal activity of sertaconazole against 110 strains of Candida yeasts (50 Candida albicans, 15 Candida glabrata, 2 Candida guilliermodii, 8 Candida krusei, 1 Candida kefyr, 8 Candida parapsilosis and 26 Candida tropicalis) was assessed in comparison with bifonazole, ketoconazole, econazole and miconazole. The majority of the strains were clinical isolates; some reference strains were included. A commercial agar diffusion method (NeoSensitabs, Rosco, Taastrup, Denmark) in Shadomy's modified medium pH 7 was used. Using the manufacturer's criteria, 86.4% of the strains were classified as "sensitive" to sertaconazole. The only strain classified as "resistant" to sertaconazole was the control reference strain of C. albicans. The remaining strains were classified as "moderately sensitive". The sensitivity/resistance percentages for the other antifungals tested were 75.5/1.8 for ketoconazole, 71.8/2.7 for miconazole, 63.7/13.6 for econazole, and 59.1/5.5 for bifonazole. Sertaconazole showed a higher antifungal activity than that of the other antimycotics, tested in vitro which was statistically significant (P < 0.001), as well as a lower resistance rate than that of econazole, bifonazole and ketoconazole.