Fluconazole as a therapeutic alternative in infections associated with Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) is a microorganism whose importance as an infectious agent has remained over the years but which has become a recent emergency and a serious public health problem in response to the evolution in its behavior against first-line antimicrobials, for its treatment and the emergence of multi-resistant strains, which require the use of therapeutic alternatives that allow its control. The objective of the work was to evaluate the in vitro behavior of M. tuberculosis before the antifungal agent fluconazole, for its possible use as a therapeutic alternative. To this, six strains were evaluated M. tuberculosis: 2 resistants to rifampicin, 2 resistants to isoniazid and 2 sensitive to both antimicrobials. We used the method of Minimum Inhibitory Concentration, using the microplate technique with Alamar Blue and the tube technique. Both methodologies showed sensitivity to low concentrations of fluconazole (0.0625 μg/ml). All strains were sensitive to the fluconazole / isoniazid combination; whereas, when exposed to the fluconazole / rifampicin combination, the strains showed resistance, indicating the antagonistic effect of rifampicin on fluconazole. The results allow us to conclude and suggest the possible therapeutic use of fluconazole against infections associated with M. tuberculosis.

Keywords

• Pruebas de sensibilidad microbiana
• fluconazol
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis
• rifampicina
• isoniazida