Oral yeast flora of a population in an area of Tanzania bordering an AIDS endemic zone.

Between May-October 1989 health personnel took mouth swabs from 875 15-55 year old male and female adults from rural Luo Imbo division of Tarime district 145 similar individuals from the town of Tarime and 268 food handlers from Tarime and other neighboring towns in the North Mara region of Tanzania to determine the prevalence of oral yeast flora in areas near an AIDS endemic zone. Laboratory personnel at the Shirati Hospital in Shirati isolated yeasts in 31.6% of the cases with most cases having Candida albicans (10.9%) followed by Saccharomyces cerevisiae (7.4%) and Trichosporon capitatum (6.5%). They were able to identify at least 23 other yeasts among the study group. Food handlers had the highest carriage rate (36.4%) then rural dwellers (32.5%) and urban dwellers (24.8%). C. albicans was present more often in the food handlers (17.5%) than either the rural or urban dwellers (9.5%) and 6.9% respectively). Thus the researchers suggested that the already occurring medical surveillance activities of food handlers should also monitor Candida infection. S. cerevisiae (used in food and drink fermentation processes) was also more prevalent in food handlers (10.8%) than the other 2 groups (6.3% and 7.6% respectively). On the other hand laboratory staff isolated T. capitatum more often from rural dwellers (8.6%) than urban dwellers (2.1%) and food handlers (2.6%). In a study in Zaire S. cerevisiae was the predominant oral yeast in AIDS patients. 9 (0.7%) subjects had T. beigelii 1 of whom carried HIV-1. which has been associated with invasive infections in immunocompromised patients. Ongoing seroepidemiological studies in Tanzania are looking at any associations between subclinical C. albicans and other yeast infections HIV-1 infection and the development of AIDS.