Tuesday 12 August 2008

Candida albicans: and Psoriasis

A study in 2001 by A. Waldman et al at Rappaport Institute, Haifa, Israel printed in Mycoses (2001, May;44(3-4):77-81) looked into the correlation between C.Albicans and other Candida species in the saliva and faeces of Psoriatic patients. A predominance of C.albicans and C.rugosa were found.
"Our results reinforce the hypothesis that C. albicans is one of the triggers to both exacerbation and persistence of psoriasis."
Waldman, A., A. Gilhar, L. Duek, and I. Berdicevsky. 2001. Incidence of Candida in psoriasis—a study on the fungal flora of psoriatic patients. Mycoses 44:77–81.

This does not mean that C.albicans is the cause of Psoriasis. Psoriasis appears to have several causal agents and quite possibly two patients with psoriasis do not share the same causal agent. Other agents are trauma to the skin, streptococcal infections, and even lithium, antimalarial agents, NSAIDs and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors can exacerbate or possibly induce psoriasis...

C.albicans has only been hinted at as existing more in Psoriatic patients than those with dermatitis or normal but it is not a hugely significant difference and thus has been declared irrelevant by one later study in 2007
[Leibovici et al, 2007. Prevalence of Candida on the tongue and intertriginous areas of psoriatic and atopic dermatitis patients. Mycoses 51:63-66]

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