Publication
Title
Candida vulvovaginitis : a store with a buttery and a show window
Author
Abstract
Although being an utterly frequent, non-mortal, yet distressing disease, and despite good knowledge of the pathogenesis and the availability of specific and safe treatment, vulvovaginal Candida (VVC) infection remains one of the most enigmatic problems for both physicians and patients. Good treatment requires a proper diagnosis. Too many caregivers (and patients treating themselves) react too simple-minded on the symptoms of VVC and treat VVC where they see it on the vulva. In this opinion paper, we plea for a thorough examination of women with VVC, especially in those women who suffer from recurrent disease since a long time, sometimes decades, which necessitates intensive examination of the vaginal flora, as this is invariably the reservoir for relapses and recurrent vulvitis. Examination of such complicated cases requires experienced clinical judgement, expertise bedside phase contrast microscopy of fresh vaginal fluid, classical cultures on Sabouroud medium and, if still unresolved, repetitive cultures taken by the patient herself at moments of symptoms, and/or nuclear acid amplification techniques to detect Candida genes in the vaginal fluid. Even if only vulvitis is evident, thorough expert examination of vaginal fluid is obligatory to diagnose VVC.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Mycoses: diagnosis, therapy and prophylaxis of fungal diseases. - Berlin
Publication
Hoboken : Wiley-blackwell , 2017
ISSN
0933-7407
DOI
10.1111/MYC.12572
Volume/pages
60 :2 (2017) , p. 70-72
ISI
000393946500001
Pubmed ID
27687503
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 12.04.2017
Last edited 09.10.2023
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