The objective of this study was to assess the activity of the novel triazole antifungal drug, efinaconazole, and five comparators (luliconazole, lanoconazole, terbinafine, itraconazole, and fluconazole) against a large collection of and clinical isolates. The geometric mean MICs were the lowest for luliconazole (0.0005 μg/ml), followed by lanoconazole (0.002 μg/ml), efinaconazole (0.007 μg/ml), terbinafine (0.011 μg/ml), itraconazole (0.095 μg/ml), and fluconazole (12.77 μg/ml). It appears that efinaconazole, lanoconazole, and luliconazole are promising candidates for the treatment of dermatophytosis due to and .

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The activities of novel azoles compared to those of five antifungal drugs against clinical ( = 28) and environmental ( = 102) isolates of black mold and melanized yeast were determined. Luliconazole and lanoconazole had the lowest geometric mean MICs, followed by efinaconazole, against tested isolates compared to the other drugs. Therefore, it appears that these new imidazole and triazole drugs are promising candidates for the treatment of infections due to melanized fungi and their relatives.

Background Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a common and debilitating long‐term illness affecting million women worldwide. This disease is caused mainly by Candida albicans and a lesser extent by other species, including the two phylogenetically closely related pathogens Candida africana and Candida dubliniensis. Objectives In this study, we report detailed molecular epidemiological data about the occurrence of these two pathogenic yeasts in Iranian patients affected by VVC, or its chronic recurrent form (RVVC), and provide, for the first time, data on the antifungal activity of two new drugs, efinaconazole (EFN) and luliconazole (LUL). Methods A total of 133 vaginal yeast isolates, presumptively identified as C albicans by phenotypic and restriction analysis of rDNA, were further analysed by using a specific molecular method targeting the HWP1 gene. All C africana and C dubliniensis isolates were also tested for their in vitro susceptibility to a panel of modern and classical antifungal drugs. Results and Conclusions Based on the molecular results, among 133 germ‐tube positive isolates, we identify 119 C albicans (89.47%), 11 C africana (8.27%) and 3 C dubliniensis (2.26%) isolates. C africana and C dubliniensis showed low MIC values for most of the antifungal drugs tested, especially for EFN and LUL, which exhibited a remarkable antifungal activity. High MIC values were observed only for nystatin and terbinafine. Although C albicans remains the most common Candida species recovered from Iranian VVC/RVVC patients, our data show that its prevalence may be slightly overestimated due to the presence of difficult‐to‐identify closely related yeast, especially C africana.

Background and Purpose:The epidemiological alteration in the distribution of Candida species, as well as the significantly increasing trend of either intrinsic or acquired resistance of some of these fungi highlights the need for a reliable method for the identification of the species. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one of the methods facilitating the quick and precise identification of Candida species. The aim of this study was to compare the efficiency of CHROMagar, PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), and PCR-fragment size polymorphism (PCR-FSP) assays in the identification of Candida species to determine the benefits and limitations of these methods.Materials and Methods:This study was conducted on 107 Candida strains, including 20 standard strains and 87 clinical isolates. The identification of the isolates was accomplished by using CHROMagar as a conventional method. The PCR-RFLP assay was performed on the entire internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of ribosomal DNA (rDNA), and the consequent enzymatic digestion was compared with PCR-FSP results in which ITS1 and ITS2 regions were separately PCR amplified. In both molecular assays, yeast identification was carried out through the specific electrophoretic profiles of the PCR products.Results:According to the results, the utilization of CHROMagar resulted in the identification of 29 (33.3%) Candida isolates, while the PCR-RFLP and PCR-FSP facilitated the identification of 83 (95.4%) and 80 (91.9%) clinical isolates, respectively. The obtained concordances between CHROMagar and PCR-RFLP, between CHROMagar and PCR-FSP, as well as between PCR-RFLP and PCR-FSP were 0.23, 0.20, and 0.77, respectively.Conclusion:The recognition of the benefits and limitations of PCR methods allows for the selection of the most efficient technique for a fast and correct differentiation. The PCR-RFLP and PCR-FSP assays had satisfactory concordance. The PCR-FSP provides a rapid, technically simple, and cost-effective method for the identification of Candida species. Nevertheless, to accurately differentiate among the taxonomically related species, PCR-RFLP should be implemented.

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Background Trichophyton benhamiae is a zoophilic dermatophyte, known as one of the causative agents of dermatophytosis. Objectives The purpose of this study was to explore the genotypes of T. benhamiae strains isolated from geographically different areas of Iran and also to evaluate in vitro antifungal susceptibility profile of these strains against seven antifungal drugs. Methods Twenty‐two strains of T. benhamiae and two strains of T. eriotrephon were isolated from patients with distinct types of dermatophytosis. DNA extraction and amplification of rDNA regions using ITS1 and ITS4 primers were conducted on the isolates. The in vitro antifungal susceptibility of posaconazole (PSC), voriconazole (VRC), itraconazole (ITC), ketoconazole (KET), caspofungin (CAS), terbinafine (TRB) and griseofulvin (GRZ) was evaluated according to CLSI M38‐A2 protocol. Results The multiple alignment of the ITS‐rDNA sequences of T. benhamiae indicated a mean similarity of 99.5%, with 0–3 interspecies nucleotide difference. The geometric mean (GM) values of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimum effective concentrations (MECs) across the all isolates were respectively: TRB: 0.025 mg/L, PSC: 0.032 mg/L, ITC: 0.050 mg/L and VRC: 0.059 mg/L with lower values and CAS: 0.31 mg/L, KTZ: 0.56 mg/L and GRZ: 0.76 mg/L with higher values. Conclusion Diverse ITS sequence types of T. benhamiae were shown in different geographical regions of Iran. The TRB, PSC and ITC were the most effective drugs against T. benhamiae strains, respectively. Furthermore, in our study, two strains of T. eriotrephon as a scarce dermatophyte species were described.