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The Candida Albicans

About candida albicans:

Candida Albicans are organisms which live in and on the body of many creatures and cause no harm to the body when other microbial organisms are thriving to keep them “in check”. When these other organisms are not present, Candida Albicans can become excessive and can severely compromise the immune system, causing many types of chronic illness. Parasites, recurrent antibiotic use, steroid drugs, use of acid blockers, oral and I.V. contraceptives, excess sugar and refined carbohydrate intake (sugar & white flour), and chlorinated water are all factors which can kill helpful bacteria in and on the body and allow Candida Albicans to overpopulate the body, resulting in a condition called Candidiasis.Candida albicans (sometimes referred to as monilia) is a fungus that is normally present on the skin and in mucous membranes such as the vagina, mouth, or rectum. The fungus also can travel through the blood stream and affect the throat, intestines, and heart valves.Candida albicans becomes an infectious agent when there is some change in the body environment that allows it to grow out of control.A thrush is a fungal infection caused by yeast of the genus Candida. The term candida may denote a variety of pathological factors for having these fungi. Candida albicans, the most common species, is part of the normal flora of the oropharynx or gastrointestinal tract, and may also be present in low concentrations in flora vaginal normal.

What Is Candida Albicans?

The opportunity for a yeast infection to take hold of a women is compounded further with pregnancy, through multiple pregnancies and the use of birth control pills. The female sex hormone progesterone — which elevates in the last half of the menstrual cycle — significantly increases susceptibility to yeast infection for women.In time a weakened immune system may relinquish control, giving candida an opportunity to proliferate and transform into a harmful fungus — a condition called Candidiasis — which can severely harm one’s overall health status.In severe cases — for instance when candidiasis (the fungal form of candida) is present — it can break down the mucosal lining between the bloodstream and the gastrointestinal tract.This breakdown may facilitate passage of harmful toxins and allergens into the bloodstream.The increased prevalence of local and systemic disease caused by Candida species has resulted in numerous new clinical syndromes, the expression of which depends primarily on the immune status of the host. Candida species produce a wide spectrum of diseases, ranging from superficial mucocutaneous disease to invasive illnesses, such as hepatosplenic candidiasis, Candida peritonitis, and systemic candidiasis. The management of serious and life-threatening invasive candidiasis remains severely hampered by delays in diagnosis and the lack of reliable diagnostic methods that allow detection of both fungemia and tissue invasion by Candida species.

Causes Of Candida Albicans:

Most of the time, candida infections of the mouth, skin, or vagina occur for no apparent reason. A common cause of infection may be the use of antibiotics that destroy beneficial, as well as harmful, microorganisms in the body, permitting candida to multiply in their place. The resulting condition is known as candidiasis moniliasis, or a “yeast” infection.is called thrush when it grows in the mouth, especially in infantsshows up on skin as a red, inflamed, and sometimes scaly rash, such as diaper rash,causes vaginalitis moniliasis, commonly known as a yeast infection, in the vagina,causes candidal onchomycosis in the nails or paronychia next to the nails,can also affect the esophagus and the digestive tract.Candidal infection of the penis is more common among uncircumcised than circumcised men and may result from sexual intercourse with an infected partner.In rare instances, when body resistance is low as in leukemia or AIDS, candida albicans can enter the bloodstream and causes serious infection of vital organs. The Candida are responsible not only Candida albicans (70% of bloodstream infections in fungi ), but also several other species that were hitherto considered harmless: Candida parapsilosis is currently considered a significant cause of sepsis and infection of tissues in immuno-compromised patients, while Candida tropicalis , Candida krusei and Candida guilliermondii rarely cause real problems in humans. Currently, non-Candida yeast may be responsible for such sepsis: Torupsis glabrata in particular is considered an opportunistic fungal infection highly pathogenic urogenital tract and bloodstream (10% of fungal sepsis).

Treatment Of Candida Albicans:

All clusters detected should be treated simultaneously to avoid recurrence. Treatment of candidiasis is most often a local topical antifungal (amphotericin B or fluconazole), but some cases justify the use of a systemic antifungal. The therapeutic decision must take into account the location, terrain conditions, sometimes the age and character of recurrent lesions.The treatments used to manage Candida infections vary substantially and are based on the anatomic location of the infection, the patients’ underlying disease and immune status, the patients’ risk factors for infection, the specific species of Candida responsible for infection, and, in some cases, the susceptibility of the Candida species to specific antifungal drugs.There have been significant changes in the management of candidiasis in the last few years, particularly related to the appropriate use of echinocandins and expanded-spectrum azoles for candidemia, other forms of invasive candidiasis, and mucosal candidiasis. Newer updated guidelines were published in March 2009 by the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA), replacing a previous version from 2004. These latest recommendations include the echinocandins caspofungin, micafungin, and anidulafungin, along with voriconazole and posaconazole, as well as lipid formulations of amphotericin B in various situations.