Oral contraception and vaginal candida colonization

Fungal vaginal infections/colonizations can be divided into a symptomatic vaginal candidiasis and an asymptomatic vaginal Candida-carriage. The latter seems to be a predisposing factor for the development of a symptomatic vaginal candidiasis. The fungal organism isolated most frequently is Candida albicans followed by Candida glabrata which was previously also known as Torulopsis glabrata. To a lesser extent other Candida species such as Candida tropicalis and Candida krusei can be prevalent in the vulvovaginal region. Predisposing factors for vaginal candidiasis are gravidity diabetes mellitus or a therapy with immunosuppressive agents. Also gestagens showed to be a predisposing factor for vaginal candidiasis. Divergent results concerning the predisposition for vaginal candidiasis or colonization due to oral contraception have so far been reported. Therefore the authors performed a study with two healthy collectives of female volunteers (n = 2 x 60) which were different concerning the taking of oral contraceptives. Overall in 17% of the subjects (20/120) yeast could be cultured out of the vaginal secretions. There was no evidence for a higher rate of Candida colonization in subjects taking oral contraceptives. Further there was no evidence for a relationship between the length of the taking of oral contraceptives and the rate of vaginal yeast-carriage. Also the type of oral contraceptive (combination or sequential contraceptive) had no influence on the frequency of Candida-carriage. Candida albicans was the most prevalent yeast (16/20) followed by Candida glabrata (4/20). (authors)