CRITERIA FOR DIAGNOSIS OF CANDIDA VULVOVAGINITIS IN PREGNANT WOMEN

Abstract

Summary In this prospective study of 303 pregnant women C. albkans was found in 50 patients (16‐5 per cent) but only once was it isolated from the healthy vagina. The majority of isolates (84 per cent) were associated with signs of vaginitis or vulvovaginitis. In the remainder, isolation of the fungus was associated with discharge or other sign of morbidity. Discharge and irritation were not specifically associated with isolation of the thrush fungus, but 85 per cent of women with vaginitis during pregnancy had precipitins in their serum, or C. albicans in the vagina. Candida albicans was isolated from 23 of 28 women with vulvitis, and from 11 out of 16 women with vaginal plaques or a cheesy appearance of the vaginal epithelium.