frequency and etiology of vulvovaginal candidiasis in women referred to a gynecological center in babol, lran

background: vulvovaginal candidiasis is the most common fungal disease in sexually active women of which candida albicans is the primary etiologic agent. materials and methods: this cross-sectional study was performed to determine the etiologic agents of vulvovaginal candidiasis amongst 2000 women who presented to the gynecological center of babol shahid yahyanejad educational hospital from 2006-2007 with symptoms of vulvovaginal candidiasis. results: discharge and pruritus were the most common symptoms in patients (80%). there were 42 out of 97 (43.3%) specimens which were positive for yeast. of these, 80.95% belonged to candida albicans and 14.29% were candida krusei. conclusion: discharge and pruritus were the most common symptoms of vulvovaginal candidiasis. in our study, c. albicans was the most common species isolated from the specimens.