Factors Influencing Experimental Candidiasis in Mice. I. Alloxan Diabetes †

The frequent clinical observation of the association of diabetes mellitus and candidiasis'z prompted an investigation of the effect of alloxan diabetes on experimental infections in mice caused by Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Candida guilliermondii, and Candida parapsilosis. The results of this investigation reveal that alloxan diabetes enhances, in the mouse, experimental infections caused by various species of Candida and suggest that the metabolic alterations of diabetes mellitus produce alterations in resistance which are of signal importance in the pathogenesis of Candida infections. These experiments followed preliminary observations in this laboratory in 1959, which showed that candidiasis was enhanced in mice with alloxan diabetes.