Part #1
“Guidelines for Treatment of Candidiasis”
“Mucosal biofilms of Candida albicans”
“Thrush and breastfeeding”
Distinction among Candida species
The five species from Candida genera that possess specific medical significance include Candida albicans, C tropicalis, C. galbrata, C. krusei and C. parapsilosis. Candida albicans is widely present in human host as a commensal agent that may be exogenous or endogenous and mostly lives on the skin and the human mucosae of mouth, intestinal tract, and female genital tract. Other environmental places such as surfaces of plants, soil, and water are also its habitat. The prevalence of C. krusei in candidiasis is found the lowest that is only around less than 3%. The genus Candida comes under Saccharomycetaceae family in the phylum Ascomycota. Candida albicans is a diploid fungus that multiplies through budding. It grows in the form of true hyphae. On CMA or cornmeal agar it produces distinct terminal round chlamydospores. C. glabrata is haploid and uncommon on the smooth epidermis. It lives as a mucosal commensal of warm-blooded animals. C. krusei is also diploid yeast that grows like pseudohyphae and on CMA it makes long pseudohyphae with rare splitting. C. parapsilosis is diploid yeast and on CMA it develops into elongated and curled pseudohyphae that contain distinctive blastoconidia located on the septa. It shows a broad spectrum of niche from healthy humans to domestic animals and marine environments. C. tropicalis is diploid yeast which has been regularly detected among cancer patients. Its preferred niche includes digestive tract and skin of healthy human as well as natural soil and aquatic environments (Reiss, Shadomy and Lyon 251-297).
Why a Communal Candida becomes pathogenic?
Candida is believed to be opportunistic fungi that reside in its host as a friendly flora and most prevalently in the humans. The fluctuating nature of innate and acquired defense response of host determines its behavior inside the host. There are around numerous species investigated that belong to Candida genus and the most commensal etiologic agent is Candida albicans that is reported to be retrieved by 30 to 50% healthy human beings. Any slight alteration in the host immune system or its surrounding atmosphere can transform this friendly microbe into the pathogenic form that may cause fatal infections. Esophageal and oropharyngeal candidiasis is the type of opportunistic infection in the case of AIDS patients.
The primary risk factors responsible for inducing Candida from commensal to pathogenic includes any interference to the immune system or weakened immunity, HIV infection, intravascular catheters, cancer chemotherapy, and cardiothoracic or gastrointestinal surgery. Candida transmits through person-to-person contact or via endogenous routes that are the reason the hospital settings predispose the patients to the candidiasis in the form of bloodstream infections (Reiss, Shadomy and Lyon 251-297).
Clinical forms of Candidiasis and associated risk factors:
Cutaneous candidiasis such as nail infections and diaper rash: bad hygiene, obesity, alcoholism, diabetes mellitus.
Oral candidiasis: HIV-seropositive people, diabetics who use dentures.
Vulvovaginal candidiasis: antibiotic use, high estrogen levels, pregnancy, use of oral contraceptives, hormone replacement therapy, sexual activity and diabetes.
Invasive candidiasis (systemic or disseminated): Reduced T-cell mediated immunity, organ transplant, chemotherapy, metabolic-endocrine disorders, infants with low birth weight and elderly people, prolonged hospital stays and mechanical ventilation.
Urinary tract candidiasis: catheter use, diabetes, hospital stay, antibiotic therapy and weak immunity (Reiss, Shadomy and Lyon 251-297).
Works Cited
Reiss, Errol, H. Jean Shadomy, and G. Marshall Lyon. Fundamental medical mycology. John
Wiley & Sons, 2011.
