Re: Anti-amebic effect of Nystatin

Efficacy of drugs against B. hominis present in 18 ameba cultures
Drugs No. of cultures decontaminated/
No. of cultures undergoing treatment (%)
Nystatin 6/18 (33.3%)
Nystatin + Acriflavin 0/8 (0%)
Miconazole 10/10 (100%)


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GONÇALVES, A.Q.; VIANA, J.C.; PIRES, E.M.; BÓIA, M.N.; COURA, J.R. & SILVA, E.F. - The use of the antifungal agent miconazole as an inhibitor of Blastocystis hominis growth in
Entamoeba histolytica/E. dispar cultures. Rev. Inst. Med. trop. S. Paulo, 49(3): 201-202, 2007.
the 10 cultures that were not freed of B. hominis, eight underwent
treatment with nystatin and acriflavin at varying concentrations.
Decontamination was not achieved via this procedure. Subsequently,
they underwent miconazole treatment at final concentrations of 10-40
μg/mL, and this led to B. hominis elimination in all of these eight
ameba cultures, after a maximum of three passages with this drug.
To evaluate the effect of miconazole alone, without interference
from any other drug, we conducted this treatment procedure on two
further ameba cultures. One culture was completely decontaminated
after two consecutive passages, with 40 and 20 μg/mL of miconazole,
respectively. For the other one, treatment was effective with just a
single passage at 20 μg/mL (Table 1).
In the present study, 100% efficacy (10/10) was obtained in
eliminating the stages of B. hominis. Nystatin is currently used in the
Amebiasis Laboratory of ICB/UFMG for decontaminating E. histolytica/
E. dispar cultures in relation to B. hominis. However, its low yield for
this purpose has already been noted previously6. In the present study,
nystatin also demonstrated low efficacy, of 33.3% (6/18).
Due the high efficacy of miconazole in eliminating B. hominis,
without reducing the quality of ameba trophozoites, we suggest the
standardization of culturing treatments by means of the use of
miconazole at a final concentration of 40 μg/mL, followed by
reinforcement of the treatment in a second passage, at 20 μg/mL.
The excellent in vitro action of miconazole against the protozoan
B. hominis brings the prospect that it could be routinely used in
laboratories that isolate Entamoeba species from stools, thereby
reducing problems such as loss of cultures. This procedure was shown
to be effective, rapid and easy to perform. One further advantage was
that treatment could be carried out directly in established polyxenic
cultures, without ameba cell manipulation. Tweet