Morphological aspects and treatment of candida infections

The rate of candida infection has increased significantly in recent years, mainly because of consecutive treatments with corticosteroids, immunosuppressant (post-transplant), antibiotics, chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, prolonged endotracheal intubation, dentures and not least the increasing incidence of HIV infection. Although there have been notable successes in development of new antifungal drugs and in new therapeutic strategies, there are frequent therapeutic failures and relapses post-treatment. The aim of this paper is to present an algorithm for morphological diagnosis and treatment of oral candidiasis.