Prevalence ofCandidaon the tongue and intertriginous areas of psoriatic and atopic dermatitis patients

Abstract

SummaryData in the literature regarding the prevalence of Candida in psoriatic and atopic dermatitis patients are controversial. We conducted a prospective study to determine the prevalence of Candida on the tongue, axillae and groin of psoriatic patients when compared with atopic dermatitis patients and normal controls. During the period 2003-2005, data were collected from 100 psoriatic patients, 100 patients with atopic dermatitis and 100 normal controls. Fungal test specimens for Candida were collected from the axillae, groin and tongue of each patient. There was no increase in the prevalence of Candida in intertriginous area of either psoriatic or atopic dermatitis patients. However, the prevalence of Candida on the tongue was significantly higher in psoriatic patients (32%) compared with atopic dermatitis (18%) (P = 0.024) and higher, although not significantly, than in normal controls (21%) (P = 0.08). Our study did not reveal higher prevalence of Candida in the axillae and groin of either psoriatic or atopic dermatitis patients. There was a higher prevalence of Candida on the tongue of psoriatic patients. The Candida of the tongue was asymptomatic and did not correlate with age, gender, type of psoriasis or severity of the disease, therefore we conclude that this is clinically irrelevant.

Oral Candida colonization and plaque type psoriasis: Is there any relationship?

“…This could be due to exclusion of smokers, patients with systemic disease, patients who use dentures, and patients taking immunosuppressive drugs. In the current study, Candida albicans was the only species isolated from the oral cavity, which is relatively consistent with the result of previous studies that introduced Candida albicans as the most common Candida species isolated from psoriatic patients . In the past two decades, a higher incidence of non‐albicans species has been reported, especially among immunosuppressed patients .…”

Evaluation of candidal colonization and specific humoral responses against Candida albicans in patients with psoriasis

“…Our results showed a significantly higher prevalence of Candida colonization in the oral cavity of patients with psoriasis compared with the control group. This result is incompatible with those of Leibovici et al . but is consistent with the findings of Waldman et al …”

“…can provoke psoriasis via the activation of complement system and neutrophil recruitment . By contrast with previous studies, we applied molecular methods in the identification of yeast species and thus identified a greater diversity of yeast species than in previous studies. In the present study, C. albicans was the most common species of Candida , both in the oral cavity and in the skin of patients with psoriasis, a finding that concords with those of other studies.…”

“…Several previous studies have aimed to investigate the prevalence of Candida colonization in different body sites of patients with psoriasis but have varied in their results . Recent studies have considered psoriasis as an immunological skin disease that involves substantial changes in humoral immune response .…”

Psoriasis and Malassezia Yeasts

“…Some authors found no increase in the prevalence of Candida in intertriginous area of psoriatic patients as compared with healthy individuals (Flytstrom et al, 2003;Leibovici et al, 2008). As ketoconazole appeared to be helpful in the treatment of some inverse psoriasis patients, the authors suggested an anti-inflammatory effect, which may explain some of its beneficial effects irrespective of Candida infection.…”