Fungi

kingdom

Ascomycota
phylum

Saccharomycetes
class

Candida albicans
genus species

(1)

T. Walker, 10 Dec 03
 Taxonomy, Ecology,
Epidemiology
A common commensal, normally found in mouth, gastro-intestinal tract, vagina (B,
abstract)

There is a bit of C. Albicans in the healthy intestine; bacteria that control yeast
growth may by killed through overuse of:
antibiotics
too much sugar consumption (feeding C. albicans,
which competes against the bacteria)
altering pH to suit fungal growth through minimal
vegetable consumption (9).
Environmental presence due to human/animal contamination; b/c of this, found in
food, soil, and fomites.
NOT normally found in environs, except when in mold form for transfer between hosts.
Infection by colonizing hosts organisms, e.g. the hosts hosts (B)
Closely related to C.krusei, a cause of fungemia (derivative of sepsis) (3)
Yeast form of C.albicans
(10,000x)
Note the reproduction by budding
 Taxonomy, Ecology, Epid.,
cond; Prevention
Medically-important fungi, dimorphic
[having two forms; here yeast when in
host, mold in environs this is the YM
shift]
As yeast, in skin/mucous membranes; is
type of opportunism (txt)
Infection symptoms;
Include fatigue, sweat, pain, sore throat, fever,
numbness, asthma susceptibility, sinusitis,
allergies, irritabilty, abdomen pain, gas
Notable are irregular menstrual cycles/pain, or
yeast rashes
Possibly due to lack of estrogen or a menstrual cycle!
If these symptoms untreated while young, may delay
menarche, and menopause may come earlier
(possibly early 20s).
 Pathogenicity; Disease
Medical abstract suggests substantial differences in mortality,
organ colonization, and severity of tissue damage after C.
albicans inoculation (A)
If lacking a certain compliment in the brain, one is more susceptible
to disease caused by the fungus (A)
Candida infections one-tenth of hospital bloodstream infections
80% AIDS patients have Candida
Move from bloodstream to organs (4)
Candidisis is a mycosis [a disease caused by fungi, here
C.albicans]; recognized since early 1800s under many names (txt)
 Disease, cond
The fungi normally found in body, as mentioned;
growth usually limited by other organisms, but
causes candidisis when uncontrolled
 Disease:
Paronychia/onychomycosis
 Disease: Candidisis
Again, may be induced by overuse of
antibiotics (kills systemic bacteria that
control C.albicans growth); also
theraputic/surgical procedures (transplants
and prosthetics) that allow it to
contaminate body
Also STD (txt)
 Disease: Candidisis
Symptoms include arthritis, various
inflammations (eye, heart, abdomen) (4, txt),
meningitis, myositis [muscular pain]
Vaginal form: yeast infection
Candidisis affects all organs and tissues!
Other types are oral candidisis (thrush)
and diaper cisis (when diapers moist and
erratically changed) (txt)
Oral candidisis: Thrush
Comprised of cellular debris,
leukocytes, yeast cells (txt)
(txt

whassup!
 Disease: Vulvovaginal
Cisis (a reiteration, of
sorts); also Prevention
+50% of women over 25yrs develop it
Again, recurrance (in less than 5% of cases)
may b/c of:
Species similar to C. albicans acting in place of it)
Many antibiotics
Contraceptives (easier passage than dry skin)
Immunocompromization
Hyperglycemia (excess sugar) (9)
One should avoid the above factors to repel cisis, etc.
 Treatment; Mortality

In vitro techniques in conjunction w/

antifungal agents may counter Candida
A suggested cure is limiting internal
adherance of the fungus; this concept is
not understood, however (6, abstract)
Very high mortality: 46% mean mortality
from candidemia, with C.albicans involved
in 70% of those deaths (5)
 Identification
TefI gene from C. albicans and C. dubliniensis
amplified, compared to pure fungal genome (7)
Another confirmation method:
After make inoculum, compare with densitometer
to known
Incubate, then use system like FungiFast to ID
(similar to E-II, for those in 202)
Based on colours produced by enzymes in rxns
(8)
 Identification:
FungiFast table
 Works Cited
http://www.candidapage.com/cccomp.shtml (1)
http://alces.med.umn.edu/candida/taxonomy.html (3)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?
cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10999981&dopt=Abstract (11)
http://pathology5.pathology.jhmi.edu/micro/v16n05.htm (5)
http://www.unr.edu/mycology/ (6)
http://www.int-microbio.com/Fungifast_ITwin.htm (8)
http://www.excel.net/~jaguar/candida.html (9)
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?
rendertype=abstract&artid=174007 (A)
http://www.smartcycler.com/pdfs/candidas_poster.pdf (7)
http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9339/9935.html (E)
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000601/3306.html (9)
Some definitions taken from www.m-w.com