Yeasts and Yeast Like Fungi as Causative Agents in Diarrhea

Diarrheic stool samples of 195 patients, suffering from diarrhea without any indication of pathogenic bacteria or/and parasites, were studied for presence of yeast and yeast like fungi in a period of one year. Fungi grown on Sabouraud media were typed, classified and species were identified using conventional methods. Distribution of 106 yeasts isolated were as follows; Candida albicans 74 (69.9%), Candida tropicallis 20 (18.9%), Geotricum candidum 3(2.8%), Candida stellatoidea 2 (1.9%), Candida parapsilosis 2 (1.9%), Candida guillermondii 2 (1.9%), Candida krusei 2 (1.9%) and Candida pseudotropicalis 1 (0.9%). In the history of the 30 out of 38 (78.9%) patients who given therapy, there were antibiotic treatment during start of diarrhea. Mean age of the patients were 13.3 years 50 percentof the patients were under 8 years. Our results show that; intestinal candidiasis must be held in mind as a cause of diarrhea due to antibiotic regimen, it's frequency was higher in childhood and Candida albicans is the most agent.