Candia Albicans

Name of disease

Candida Albicans

Name of causative agent

Yeast (Candida)

Category (fungus, etc.?)

Fungi

Multi- or uni- cellular?

Unicellular oval-shaped

Epidemiology

Geographic prevalence

Member of human gut flora—unable to flourish outside the body. It is present in 70% humans but develops problems in immune-compromised individuals (Kabir, Hussain & Ahmad, 2012)

Average rates of infection

Mortality rate is less than 40% (Gudlaugsson et. al., 2003). Nearly 46,000 cases of this condition are reported each year in US (CDC, 2015)

Reservoir

Intestinal tract, skin and mucus membrane without causing any illness. However, problems can be initiated when overgrowth of these organisms takes place (Rosenbach et. al., 2010; Naglik et. al., 2011)

Transmission mode

Food borne, moist or wet places—particularly in case of skin or vaginal infections) (Rosenbach et. al., 2010)

Pathology

Major tissues/organs

Urinary Tract: this type of yeast is the major cause of Urinary tract infection which affects lower parts of the tract more often but is potent enough to perpetuate up to the kidneys (Pappas, 2016).

Vagina: it affects both vaginal anatomy and its secretions (Goncalves et. al., 2016).

Mouth and Blood: Abnormal development of this organism causes throat or mouth infection typically known as thrash (Epstein et. al., 1998). When these species render successful in entering blood and eventually whole body, the condition is known as invasive candidiasis

Major signs/symptoms

In mouth (CDC, 2015)

Cottony texture inside the mouth

Loss of taste is more frequent

Swallowing and eating accompanied with pain

Cracked and red corners of mouth

Inner cheeks, tongue and roof of the mouth having white patches

In vagina (CDC, 2015)

Soreness and itching in vagina

Sexual intercourse accompanied with pain

Urination pain

Abnormal vaginal secretions

Urinary tract (Diekema, 2004)

Bloody urine

Elevated sense of urination

Pelvic and abdominal pain

Burning sensation while urinating

Complications?

Develops variety of complications in individuals with different affected sites. Mouth infection intervenes with the taste and texture of mouth and tongue, swallowing and eating problems; vaginal infection interferes with the vaginal secretions and pain. Gastrointestinal tract intervenes the urination (Diekema, 2004)

Latency?

It takes 1-3 days to develop yeast infections after abnormal growth is initiated in the problematic body organs (CDC, 2015)

Treatment

Main treatment methods

Medications and preventive measures (CDC, 2015; Pappas et. al., 2016)

Consuming prescribed antifungal medicines e.g., fluconazole in case of severe mouth, vaginal infection and urinary tract infection (oral). In case of vaginal or mouth infection, antifungal cream and suppository treatments are other widely-acknowledged treatments.

Typical length of treatment

It takes 7-14 days getting treated when oral and suppository options are being used (CDC, 2015)

Prophylaxis?

Oral medication is available along with the ointment or suppository options (Pappas et. al., 2016)

Interesting fact?

Centuries back nearly about 400 BC, Hippocrates mentioned this disease in his paper work of the epidemics (Kurtzman & Jack, 1998). It is named after Latin word “Candidus” meaning ‘White” (Kurtzman & Jack, 1998).

References

CDC (2015). Fungal Diseases. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/candidiasis/invasive/statistics.html

CDC (2015). Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines: Vulvovaginal Candidiasis

CDC (2015). Vaginal Candidiasis. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/candidiasis/genital/index.html

Diekema, D. J., Pfaller, M. A. (2004). Nosocomial candidemia: an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, 25, 624–626. doi:10.1086/502451.

Epstein, J. B., Polsky, B. (1998). Oropharyngeal candidiasis: a review of its clinical spectrum and current therapies. Clin Ther, 20, 40-57.

Goncalves, B., Ferreira, C., Alves, C. T., Henriques, M., Azeredo, J., Silva, S. (2016). Vulvovaginal candidiasis: Epidemiology, microbiology and risk factors. Critical reviews in microbiology, 42, 905-27.

Gudlaugsson, O., Gillespie, S., Lee, K., Vande, B. J. V., et. al. (2003). Attributable mortality of nosocomial candidemia, revisited. Clin Infect Dis, 37, 1172–1177. doi:10.1086/378745.

https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/candidiasis/thrush/index.html

Kabir, M. A, Hussain, M. A., Ahmad, Z. (2012). Candida albicans: A Model Organism for Studying Fungal Pathogens. ISRN Microbiology., 538694.

Kurtzman, C. P. Fell, J. W. (1998). The yeasts, a taxonomic study (4ed.). ISBN 978-0444813121.

 Naglik, J. R., Moyes, D. L., Wächtler, B., Hube, B. (2011). Candida albicans interactions with epithelial cells and mucosal immunity. Microbes and Infection., 13(12-13), 963–976.

Pappas, P. G., Kauffman, C. A., Andes, D. R., et al. (2016). Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Candidiasis: 2016 Update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clinical infectious diseases: an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 62, e1-50.

Rosenbach, A., Dignard, D., Pierce, J. V., Whiteway, M., Kumamoto, C. A. (2010). Adaptations of Candida albicans for growth in the mammalian intestinal tract. Eukaryotic Cell. 2010, 9(7), 1075–1086