Register for Anti-Fungal Treatments Fail To Eradicate Original Candida Strains
CandidiasisMay 14, 2001
2001 MAY 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Deborah W. Heinrich, PhD, staff medical writer - Researchers at the University of Wales in South Glam, Wales, found that antifungal treatments in terminally ill patients failed to eradicate the original strains of Candida albicans infecting their oral cavities.
To determine the patterns of C. albicans colonization in terminally ill patients before and after antifungal treatments, M.J. Wilson and colleagues obtained 43 oral isolates from these individuals. They employed electrophoretic karyotyping (EK) and the inter-repeat polymerase chain reaction (IR-PCR) to identify C. albicans strains. Results were published in the April 2001 issue of Journal of Oral Pathology and Medicine.
Of the 43 isolates, Wilson and coworders identified 15 karyotypes with EK and 17 profiles by IR-PCR. EK and IR-PCR analysis of sequential isolates from 14 patients revealed 10 patients with identical isolates pre- and post-antifungal treatment and four patients with only slight differences in EK and IR-PCR results ("A molecular epidemiological study of sequential oral isolates of Candida albicans from terminally ill patients," J Oral Pathol Med, April 2001;30(4):206-212).
"The findings suggest that antifungal treatment in this patient group fails to eradicate the original C. albicans strain, thereby allowing recolonization of the oral cavity. The present study has also shown that either EK or IR-PCR is a useful typing approach in such epidemiological investigations," concluded Wilson and colleagues.
The corresponding author for this study is M.J. Wilson, University of Wales College of Medicine, School of Dentistry, Department of Oral Surgery Medicine & Pathology, Cardiff CF4 4XY, S. Glam, Wales.
A search at www.NewsRx.net using the search term "Candida and candidiasis" yielded 10 articles in two specialized reports.
Key points reported in this study include:
* Analysis of sequential C. albicans isolates revealed identical karyotypes and profiles in 10 patients
* Antifungal treatment in terminally ill patients fails to eradicate original fungal strains and allows oral recolonization
* EK and IR-PCR are useful tools for epidemiological investigations of this type This article was prepared by Health & Medicine Week editors from staff and other reports.
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