Combined therapy in treatment of murine infection by Fusarium solani.

OBJECTIVES

We evaluated the efficacy of voriconazole, amphotericin B and micafungin alone and combined in a murine model of disseminated infection by Fusarium solani.

METHODS

Immunosuppressed mice were treated with voriconazole at 60 mg/kg/day, amphotericin B at 3 mg/kg/day, micafungin at 10 mg/kg/day or combinations of these antifungal drugs. For survival studies, treatment began 1 day after infection and continued for 10 days. For tissue burden studies, animals were sacrificed on day 6 of the treatment and the fungal load in the kidneys and spleens was measured. The experiments were carried out using two different clinical strains of F. solani.

RESULTS

Only the combination of voriconazole plus amphotericin B prolonged the survival of the mice versus the controls for the two strains tested. However, this combination only reduced tissue burden in the kidney and spleen of mice infected by one strain. The other treatments were clearly less effective.

CONCLUSIONS

Voriconazole plus amphotericin B may have a role in the treatment of fusariosis.