Infections by
Cryptococcus
strains other than
C. neoformans have been detected in immunocompromised patients. Of these strains, three are considered human pathogens:
C. albidus, C. laurenttii, and
C. uniguttulatus. This study deals with the in vitro susceptibility of
Cryptococcus to drugs such as amphotericin B, itraconazole, fluconazole, and 5-fluorocytosine. Environmental
Cryptococcus isolates (50) distributed as follows:
C. neoformans var.
neoformans (16),
C. albidus (17),
C. laurentii (14), and
C. uniguttulatus (3) were evaluated by the micro and macrodilution techniques, according to EUCAST and NCCLS recommendations, respectively. Considering both methodologies the respective minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were 0.125 and 2 μg/ml for amphotericin B, 0.06 and 8 μg/ml for itraconazole, and 0.5 and more than 64 μg/ml for fluconazole and 5-fluorocytosine. Agreement percentages for the two methodologies were 100% for amphotericin B and fluconazole for all the strains tested. For itraconazole, the agreement percentage was 81.3% in the
C. neoformans strain and 100% for all the others. All species had a agreement percentage of 94.1 to 100% when susceptibility to 5-fluorocytosine was tested. It is concluded that environmental isolates of
C. neoformans var. neoformans,
C. albidus, C. laurentii, and
C. uniguttulatus may show high MICs against certain drugs, suggesting in vitro primary resistance to the antifungals tested.
