For 212 oropharyngeal isolates of Candida albicans, the fluconazole MICs for 50 and 90% of strains tested were 0.5 and 16 mu g/ml, respectively, and those of itraconazole were 0.05 and 0.2 mu g/ml, respectively. Of 16 isolates for which fluconazole MICs were >64 mu g/ml, itraconazole MICs for 14 were less than or equal to 0.8 mu g/ml and for 2 were >6.4 mu g/ml. Most fluconazole-resistant strains remained susceptible to itraconazole;,whether itraconazole will prove effective for refractory thrush remains to be shown.