Thrush Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Thrush, including details on oral, vaginal, symptoms, prevention, treatment, infection.

Molecular epidemiology of long-term colonization of Candida albicans strains from HIV-infected patients.

Li SY, Yang YL, Chen KW, Cheng HH, Chiou CS, Wang TH, Lauderdale TL, Hung CC, Lo HJ

Division of Laboratory Research and Development, Center for Disease Control, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.

Twenty-one Candida albicans isolates from three HIV-infected patients were collected over a period of 3 years and characterized for fluconazole susceptibility, infectivity and genetic relatedness. Fluconazole resistance was found in five isolates, four exhibited dose-dependent susceptibility and the remainder were fully susceptible to this agent. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of SfiI restriction digests of the genomic DNA from the isolates revealed that isolates from the same swab specimen were identical despite differences in susceptibility to fluconazole and isolates recovered over time from the three patients retained clonally related DNA fingerprints within each patient. This small-scale study confirms the persistence of oral colonization of C. albicans strains in HIV-infected patients. Clinical data also suggests that the primary infecting strain may become a persistent colonist in the oral cavity once the immune function of the patient has been restored.

Published 21 February 2006 in Epidemiol Infect, 134(2): 265-9.
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