Zalesak Selina M, Sanchez Carlos R, Pich Ashley A, Papich Mark G
College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA,
Veterinary Services, Fort Worth Zoo, Fort Worth, TX 76109, USA.
J Avian Med Surg. 2020 Mar 29;34(1):52-56. doi: 10.1647/1082-6742-34.1.52.
Aspergillosis is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in captive penguins. Itraconazole, an antifungal drug, is commonly used to treat aspergillosis infections in avian species; however, commercially available human formulations are costly, and studies have shown the effectiveness of compounded formulations to be unreliable. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a veterinary formulation of itraconazole, Itrafungol, for use in cats. This study provides preliminary results from limited sampling evaluating whether this veterinary formulation is suitable for future studies in the African penguin (). A 20 mg/kg PO itraconazole dose was administered to 9 African penguins. Blood samples were taken over the course of 24 hours; each sample was collected from a different bird to minimize stress to the animals. Plasma was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography for concentrations of itraconazole. The drug was absorbed in all penguins, and plasma concentrations in 5 of 9 penguins (56%) were found to be greater than the established therapeutic dose of 1.0 µg/ mL. To our knowledge, this is the first study that has investigated a 20 mg/kg dose of itraconazole in a penguin species. The small sample size limits the conclusions that can be drawn from this preliminary study. Nonetheless, we demonstrate encouraging evidence that the FDA-approved formulation of oral itraconazole solution should be considered for future study as a cost-effective treatment for aspergillosis in African penguins and other avian species.
曲霉菌病是圈养企鹅发病和死亡的常见原因。抗真菌药物伊曲康唑常用于治疗鸟类曲霉菌感染；然而，市售的人用制剂价格昂贵，且研究表明复方制剂的有效性不可靠。美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）最近批准了一种伊曲康唑兽用制剂Itrafungol用于猫。本研究提供了有限样本的初步结果，评估这种兽用制剂是否适用于未来对非洲企鹅的研究。给9只非洲企鹅口服20mg/kg的伊曲康唑剂量。在24小时内采集血样；每个样本从不同的企鹅采集，以尽量减少对动物的应激。通过高效液相色谱法分析血浆中伊曲康唑的浓度。所有企鹅都吸收了该药物，9只企鹅中有5只（56%）的血浆浓度高于既定的治疗剂量1.0μg/mL。据我们所知，这是第一项在企鹅物种中研究20mg/kg伊曲康唑剂量的研究。小样本量限制了从这项初步研究中得出的结论。尽管如此，我们提供了令人鼓舞的证据，即FDA批准的口服伊曲康唑溶液制剂应被考虑用于未来的研究，作为非洲企鹅和其他鸟类曲霉菌病的经济有效治疗方法。
