In vitro susceptibility-testing in Aspergillus species.

Aspergillus species are the most common causes of invasive mould infections in immunocompromised patients. The introduction of new antifungal agents and recent reports of resistance emerging during treatment of Aspergillus infections have highlighted the need for in vitro susceptibility-testing. Various testing procedures have been proposed, including macrodilution and microdilution, agar diffusion, disc diffusion and Etest. At present, one of the most widely used assays is the M38-A reference method for filamentous fungi, published by the Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute and the Etest. Recently, the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility-testing (EUCAST) has charged its Antifungal Susceptibility-testing Subcommittee (AFST-EUCAST) with the preparation of new guidelines for in vitro susceptibility-testing of antifungals against Aspergillus spp. (EUCAST-AFST-ASPERGILLUS) defining breakpoints. This paper reviews the available methods for antifungal susceptibility-testing in Aspergillus spp. as well as the scant data regarding the clinical implications of in vitro testing.