Fungicidal activities of commonly used disinfectants and antifungal pharmaceutical spray preparations against clinical strains of Aspergillus and Candida species

Abstract

The antifungal efficacy of commercial chemical disinfectants and pharmaceutical antifungal agents against medically important moulds and yeast species was investigated. Chlorine, phenol, sodium dodecyl sulfate and quaternary ammonium salts were the chemical disinfectants, and bifonazole and terbinafine were the antifungal pharmaceutical products tested against clinical isolates of Aspergillus and Candida species. Fungal inocula were obtained from conidial preparations of two A. ochraceus strains and yeast cells of C. albicans, C. krusei and C. parapsilosis. The antifungal activities were evaluated either by determining the kill rate in a cell suspension media at different contact periods, or by examining the viability and growth on plates sprayed with the active ingredient. Chlorine (1%) was the only disinfectant with the ability to cause a rapid inactivation of all five strains. Phenol (5%) was equally effective against Candida species; however, a number of A. ochraceus conidia were able to survive this treatment for up to 1 h. Benzalkonium chloride (0.5%) and cetrimide (0.5%) were also able to disinfect the three Candida species rapidly; however, these two quaternary ammonium compounds were relatively ineffective against A. ochraceus. In spray experiments, quaternary ammonium compounds had a fungicidal activity against Candida species and were fungistatic against A. ochraceus conidia. All five fungal strains were able to resist 0.5% sodium dodecyl sulfate, present either in the suspension solution or on the sprayed plate. Of the two pharmaceutical antifungal products tested, bifonazole (1%) were essentially ineffective against all five strains. Terbinafine (1%) had a fungicidal activity against A. ochraceus and C. parapsilosis. In suspension experiments, an exposure to 0.01% terbinafine required a contact period of 1 h for a complete inactivation of A. ochraceus conidia and an onset of fungicidal effect on C. parapsilosis yeast cells. Terbinafine was only moderately effective against C. albicans and was completely ineffective against C. krusei.