Antagonism of the direct fungicidal action of miconazole by miconazole fungistasis.

A weakly fungistatic concentration of miconazole in lag phase yeast cultures of Candida albicans antagonized development of phenotypic susceptibility to the direct fungicidal action of high-level (i.e. greater than 10(-5) M) miconazole. After development in the absence of drug, maintenance of susceptibility upon continued incubation was also antagonized by low levels of miconazole. This auto-antagonistic effect has important clinical implications.