STUDIES ON IN VITRO ANTIMYCOTIC POTENTIALS OF LOCAL AND INDUSTRIALSOAPS ON VULVOVAGINAL CANDIDA SPECIES

Soaps are known to posses antimicrobial properties, so it was hypothesised that soaps have in vitro antimycotic effects on Candida species associated with vulvo-vaginal candidasis. A total of 129 strains of vulvo-vaginal and oral Candida albicans (43), Candida glabrata (52), Candida pseudotropicalis (19) and Candida tropicalis (15) obtained from endo-cervical / high vaginal swabs and oral rinses and swabs of nondiseased subjects of patients were bioassayed to determine their in vitro susceptibilities to 12 local, 18 industrial and 5 detergent soaps. None of the soaps had in vitro inhibitory activities on any of the Candida strains. In conclusion, commonly available local, industrial and detergent soaps assayed for in this study did not inhibit any of the test pathogenic Candida species in vitro, implicating that such soaps cannot be used in personal hygiene, disinfecting of contaminated undergarments nor for toilet purposes and therefore, cannot be of advantage as washing / germicidal agents or as topical cleansing agents in mycotic clinical conditions.