Effect of cetylpyridinium chloride on pathogenic fungi and Nocardia asteroides in sputum

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The effect of cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) on pathogenic fungi and N. asteroides was studied. Sputa [human] seeded with each of 11 organisms (Aspergillus flavus, A. fumigatus, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Candida albicans, Coccidioides immitis, Cryptococcus neoformans, Geotrichum candidum, Histoplasma capsulatum, N. asteroides, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis and Sporothrix schenckii) were treated with CPC and kept for 2, 5 and 9 days. The CPC reagent (0.5% CPC and 0.5% NaCl), used at the Center for Disease Control, was added to sputa before shipping them to laboratories for recovery of mycobacteria. None of the organisms tested survives this treatment, and none was recovered on mycological or mycobacteriological media. Seeded sputa containing these organisms were also tested with a second CPC reagent (0.02% CPC and 0.5% NaCl) and held for 2, 5 and 9 days. A few colonies of A. flavus, A. fumigatus and N. asteroides were recovered. Neither the morphology of the fungi nor their stainability by the fluorescent antibody method was affected by treatment with the reagent containing 0.5% CPC. The background material in smears from the 0.5% CPC-treated samples retained the conjugate, making weakly fluorescing organisms more difficult to detect. The 0.5% CPC treatment did not alter the morphology of N. asteroides or its ability to be stained with Kinyoun acid-fast stain.