Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To document the microscopic features of vaginal candidiasis and to examine the relation between yeast morphology and patient symptomatology. METHOD: The study population comprised women undergoing screening for genital infection at a department of genitourinary medicine. RESULTS/CONCLUSION: Data were collected on 267 women of whom 234 were found to have vaginal candidiasis by vaginal culture. The remaining 33 patients had microscopic features of candidiasis (spores and/or hyphae) but were culture negative. Of the culture positive women, microscopy was positive in 182 (78%). "Spores only" were identified in 65 (28%), "hyphae only" in 16 (7%), and both "spores and hyphae" in 101 (43%). 68% of culture positive women were symptomatic, the commonest symptoms being irritation alone (27%) or irritation plus vaginal discharge (25%). No association was found between yeast morphology (spores, budding/non-budding; hyphae, branching/non-branching) as identified on microscopy of vaginal secretions and symptomatology.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (55.9 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Berg A. O., Heidrich F. E., Fihn S. D., Bergman J. J., Wood R. W., Stamm W. E., Holmes K. K. Establishing the cause of genitourinary symptoms in women in a family practice. Comparison of clinical examination and comprehensive microbiology. JAMA. 1984 Feb 3;251(5):620–625. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Emmerson J., Gunputrao A., Hawkswell J., Dexter A., Sykes R., Searle S., Cross A., Nathan P. M. Sampling for vaginal candidosis: how good is it? Int J STD AIDS. 1994 Sep-Oct;5(5):356–358. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- King R. D., Lee J. C., Morris A. L. Adherence of Candida albicans and other Candida species to mucosal epithelial cells. Infect Immun. 1980 Feb;27(2):667–674. doi: 10.1128/iai.27.2.667-674.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Oriel J. D., Partridge B. M., Denny M. J., Coleman J. C. Genital yeast infections. Br Med J. 1972 Dec 30;4(5843):761–764. doi: 10.1136/bmj.4.5843.761. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sobel J. D. Epidemiology and pathogenesis of recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1985 Aug 1;152(7 Pt 2):924–935. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9378(85)80003-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sobel J. D., Muller G., Buckley H. R. Critical role of germ tube formation in the pathogenesis of candidal vaginitis. Infect Immun. 1984 Jun;44(3):576–580. doi: 10.1128/iai.44.3.576-580.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sobel J. D., Muller G. Ketoconazole in the prevention of experimental candidal vaginitis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1984 Feb;25(2):281–282. doi: 10.1128/aac.25.2.281. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sobel J. D., Myers P. G., Kaye D., Levison M. E. Adherence of Candida albicans to human vaginal and buccal epithelial cells. J Infect Dis. 1981 Jan;143(1):76–82. doi: 10.1093/infdis/143.1.76. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]