EUCAST Susceptibility Testing of Isavuconazole: MIC Data for Contemporary Clinical Mold and Yeast Isolates
ABSTRACTIsavuconazole is the newest medical azole. We investigated EUCAST MICs for isavuconazole and seven comparators against 1,498 contemporary isolates (2016 to 2017). EUCAST susceptibility testing was performed. Isavuconazole MICs >2 dilution steps above the modal MIC were regarded as non-wild type for species without EUCAST epidemiological cutoff values (ECOFFs).CYP51Asequencing was performed when relevant. Pearson correlation analysis was adopted for comparing activity.Aspergillusaccounted for 90% of mold andCandidaaccounted for 97% of yeast isolates. Thirty (9.3%)Aspergillusfumigatusisolates were classified as resistant, and 10 (3.1%) were classified as non-wild type. Thirteen (4%) were cross-resistant to other mold-active azoles. Target gene alterations were found in 10 (76.9%) isolates, including 4 (30.8%) of environmental origin (TR34/L98H [n = 3] and Trip343/L98H [n = 1]). SixAspergillusterreusisolates were resistant, including two (17%) with MICs of >2 mg/liter and M217I alterations. Modal MICs/MIC50s (milligrams per liter) againstCandidaspp. were ≤0.004/≤0.004 forC. albicansandC. dubliniensis, 0.008/0.008 forC. tropicalis, 0.016/0.016 forC. parapsilosis, 0.06/0.06 forC. glabrata, and 0.125/0.125 forC. krusei. A non-wild-type phenotype was observed for 6.6% of isolates (C. glabrata[11.8%] andC. tropicalis[12.3%], specifically). All of these isolates were nonsusceptible/non-wild type to fluconazole (96.1%) or voriconazole (86.2%). Low MICs were found for several other species, exceptScedosporium apiospermumandFusarium. The best correlation was found between isavuconazole and voriconazole overall but forA. terreusand Mucorales to itraconazole and posaconazole, respectively. Isavuconazole displayed broadin vitroactivity. Acquired resistance was infrequent except inA. terreus,C. glabrata, andC. tropicalisand, when present, was associated with cross-resistance to other azoles. Revising the EUCAST breakpoints forA. fumigatus(defining an MIC of 2 mg/liter as intermediate [“I”]) would minimize major errors.