Comparison of Broth Micro Dilution and Disk Diffusion Method for Susceptibility Testing of Dermatophytes

Though fungi are widely distributed, many fungal infections go unrecognised as fungal diseases are not notifiable like some viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases. In recent years, there has been a remarkable increase in the number of fungal infections specially in those people whose immune system is compromised by aging, HIV infection, organ transplantation or cancer therapy (Kannan et al., 2006). This is more so in India due to hot and humid climate which favours fungal growth. Dermatophytes are responsible for the majority of the fungal infections involving skin, hair and nails. Concurrent with the increase in fungal infections combined with increased use of antifungal drugs often for prolonged periods has led to development of resistance to antifungal drugs. The availability of therapeutic options has led to the demand for in vitro antifungal susceptibility testing. However, unlike antibacterial susceptibility testing, antifungal susceptibility testing is still in its infancy (Jain et al., 2008; Koneman, 2006) inspite of the fact that a reference method for dermatophytes is available (CLSI-M 38A2, 2008). We have earlier reported a disk diffusion method for ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 4 Number 5 (2015) pp. 24-33 http://www.ijcmas.com