Prevalence of vaginal candidiasis in diabetic women of Madhya Pradesh, India

In a healthy women, vaginal ecosystem acts to provide a barrier to both new colonization by pathogenic organisms and overgrowth of organisms that are otherwise commensals. Diabetes is a proven predisposing factor for the imbalance in vaginal microbiota resulting vulvovaginal candidiasis. The present study was undertaken to find out prevalence of vaginal candidiasis in diabetic women. For the study, 119 diabetic women were recruited and categorized with symptomatic and asymptomatic group of vaginal infections. Vaginal swab samples were collected and processed in laboratory. The patients were asked to fill the questionnaires related to personal introduction, history of diabetes, duration of diabetes, blood sugar level, socioeconomic status, education, etc. For the isolation of Candida species, the swabs were streaked on Sabouard Dextrose agar plates containing chloramphenicol and incubated at 27C for 48 h. After incubation the plates were observed and pure cultures of yeast were obtained and characterized for species level. Proteinase and haemolysin activity of Candida species were also determined. Total 57 (47.5%) yeast were isolated from 119 diabetic women. Out of 57 yeast culture total four candida species were identified viz. 12 (21.1%) Candida albicans, 15 (26.3%) Candida glabrata, 24 (42.1%) Candida krusei and 6 (10.5%) Candida tropicalis. In symptomatic group of patients Candida albicans was predominant as 10 (17.5%) followed by Candida glabrata 8 (14%), while in asymptomatic group of patients Candida krusei 19 (33.3%) was predominant. C.albicans has shown the maximum extent of proteinase activity range from 0.096-0.325 with average 0.179±0.05, haemolysin activity range from 0.256-0.568 with an average value of 0.352±0.08 among the other species. K e y w o r d s