| Fluconazole exhibits in vitro activity against Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida spp. Fungistatic activity has also been demonstrated in normal and immunocompromised animal models for systemic and intracranial fungal infections due to Cryptococcus neoformans and for systemic infections due to Candida albicans.
In common with other azole antifungal agents, most fungi show a higher apparent sensitivity to Diflucan (fluconazole) in vivo than in vitro. Fluconazole administered orally and/or intravenously was active in a variety of animal models of fungal infection using standard laboratory strains of fungi.
Activity has been demonstrated against fungal infections caused by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus fumigatus in normal mice. Fluconazole has also been shown to be active in animal models of endemic mycoses, including one model of Blastomyces dermatitidis pulmonary infections in normal mice; one model of Coccidioides immitis intracranial infections in normal mice; and several models of Histoplasma capsulatum pulmonary infection in normal and immunosuppressed mice. The clinical significance of results obtained in these studies is unknown.
Oral fluconazole has been shown to be active in an animal model of vaginal candidiasis.
Concurrent administration of fluconazole and amphotericin B in infected normal and immunosuppressed mice showed the following results - a small additive antifungal effect in systemic infection with C. albicans, no interaction in intracranial infection with Cr. neoformans, and antagonism of the two drugs in systemic infection with Asp. fumigatus. The clinical significance of results obtained in these studies is unknown.
There have been reports of cases of superinfection with Candida species other than C. albicans, which are often inherently not susceptible to Diflucan (e.g., Candida krusei). Such cases may require alternative antifungal therapy.
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