Descriptions:
 | Non-original description (C. Davis 1986, CMI Descr. Pathog. Fungi Bact. 871)
Candida albicans (Robin) Berkhout, De schimmelgeslachten Monilia, Oidium, Oospora en Torula, p. 44, Thesis, Utrecht, 1923.
Oidium albicans Robin, Histoire naturelle des végétaux parasites qui croissent sur l'homme et sur les animaux vivants, p. 488, Paris: Baillière, 1853.
Saccharomyces albicans (Robin) Reess, 1877.
Dematium albicans (Robin) Laurent, 1889.
Monilia albicans (Robin) Zopf, 1890.
Parasaccharomyces albicans (Robin) Froilano de Mello & Gonzaga Fernandes, 1918.
Myceloblastanon albicans (Robin) Ota, 1928.
Mycotorula albicans (Robin) Langeron & Talice, 1932.
Syringospora albicans (Robin) Dodge, 1935.
Procandida albicans (Robin) Novak & Zsolt, 1961.
For complete list of synonyms see Kreger-van Rij, 1984.
Teleomorph not known.
Colonies on Glucose Peptone Agar incubated at 25°C: after 3 days cream-coloured, smooth, dull, dome-shaped, often becoming wrinkled with a mycelial border on prolonged incubation. Yeast-like cells generally globose to short-ovoid, thin-walled, hyaline with substantial size variation between cultures of different isolates and also of a single isolate, 2,0-7,0 x 3,0-8,5 µm, usually single or budding, occasionally forming short chains. Dalmau Plate Cultures on Corn Meal Agar: after 3 days most isolates forming extensive, thin-walled, hyaline, true mycelium and pseudomycelium (chains of elongated yeast-like cells), both of which produce extensive, acute branching, arising near the septum of the main structure. Grape-like clusters of globose to ovoid, smooth, thin-walled spores (often referred to as blastospores) occur at intervals along both types of structure becoming less abundant towards the apices of the hyphae. Spherical, smooth, thick-walled spores (often referred to as chlamydospores) are produced terminally both on the main hyphae and on short, acute lateral branches, by most strains (this is a characteristic feature of C. albicans). Germ Tube Test: the yeast-like cells of most strains of Candida albicans will germinate to produce 'germ tubes' (slender filaments with no constriction at the point of origin) when incubated in serum for 2-3 hours at 37°C (Mackenzie, J. Clin. Pathol. 15: 563-565, 1962). Horse serum, human serum and rabbit serum have been used to induce germ tube formation as well as certain defined media (for a comparison of methods see Muller, Mykosen 23: 509-518, 1980).
Fermentation of Carbohydrates: Glucose + Sucrose - Maltose + Lactose - Galactose v Raffinose - Trehalose v. Assimilation of Organic Compounds: Glucose + Sucrose + Maltose + Lactose - Galactose + Raffinose - Trehalose + Cellobiose - Inositol - Melezitose v Melibiose - Mannitol + L-Sorbose v D-xylose + L-Arabinose v D-Arabinose v D-Ribose v L-Rhamnose - Glycerol v Erythritol - Ribitol v Galactitol - D-Glucitol + Salicin - DL-Lactic Acid v Succinic Acid v Citric Acid v Soluble Starch +.
Assimilation of Inorganic Compounds: Nitrate -.
Ability to split urea:-.
G + C: 35·1 mol% (Stenderup & Bak, J. Gen. Microbiol. 52: 231-236, 1968), 36.8-37.3 mol% (Meyer & Phaff apud Kockova-Kratochvilova & Minarik (eds) Yeast Models in Science & Technology, Proceedings of the Specialized Symposium on Yeasts, Smolenice: Publishing House of the Slovak Academy of Science, pp. 375-387, 1972.) 34·4-34·9 mol% (Nakase & Komagata, J. Gen. Appl. Microbiol. 17: 259-264, 1971).
Coenzyme Q System: Q9 (Yamada & Kondo apud Iwata (ed) Yeasts & Yeast-like Microorganisms in Medical Science, Proceedings of the Second International Specialized Symposium on Yeasts, Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, pp. 63-69, 1972).
Disease: Candida albicans is the commonest cause of candidosis in humans and is also implicated in diseases, notably of the respiratory tract, in birds and other warm-blooded animals. The literature relating to candidosis goes back to approximately 400 BC when Hippocrates described two cases of thrush in his Epidemics book 3 (translated by F. Adams, Baltimore: Williams + Wilkins, 1939). Infections in humans may be superficial (oral thrush, vaginitis, paronychia and cutaneous candidosis) or deep-seated as a result of dissemination via the blood-stream (e.g. endocarditis, endophthalmitis). Single organs may be involved as a result of direct invasion (e.g. pulmonary candidosis). Candidosis may occur in almost any part of the body but rarely occurs in the absence of one or more predisposing factors. Candida albicans occurs commonly as a commensal of mucous membranes and the digestive tract and infection generally results from an overgrowth of the patient's indigenous flora. Predisposing factors involve those associated with hospitalization and serious underlying disease e.g. broad-spectrum antibacterial chemotherapy (see Odds, 1979), use of intravenous catheters and surgical procedures as well as malignant and immunological disorders and intravenous drug abuse. Certain groups within the healthy population are also at risk including neonates (oral thrush), pregnant women (vaginitis) and kitchen workers (paronychia). Chronic mucocutaneous candidosis is a severe superficial disease, usually in children, thought to be linked with cellular immune deficiencies and endocrinopathy syndromes. The pathogenicity of Candida albicans has been established by careful clinical studies of patients with candidosis and by laboratory experiments with animals including mice, guinea-pigs and rabbits. Disseminated candidosis has been produced by intravenous and intra-peritoneal inoculation of unmodified laboratory animals and may affect visceral organs with the kidney generally the focus of infection. Pretreatment with corticosteroids, irradiation etc. generally enhances the susceptibility of the animal to candidosis (see Odds, 1979 for a review of the literature).
Geographical distribution: Probably worldwide. Reported from Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North and South America.
Physiological specialization: Two antigenic types were demonstrated by Hasenclever & Mitchell (J. Bacteriol. 82: 570-573, 1961). Group A contains all the surface antigens contained by Group B and at least four additional antigenic components. A third serotype was later described (Muller & Kirchhoff, Zentralbl. Bakteriol. Parasitenk. Infecktionstr. Hyg. Abt. 1: Orig Reihe, A 210: 114-121, 1969). Several strain differentiation methods have been described for the epidemiological typing of Candida albicans including biotyping, resistogram typing, morphological typing and susceptibility to toxin-producting strains of yeasts (for a review of these methods see Warnock, J. Hosp. Inf. 5: 244-252, 1984).
Literature: Barnett, Payne & Yarrow, Yeasts: Characteristics and Identification. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Howard (ed), Fungi pathogenic for humans and animals. Part A. Biology. New York, USA: Marcel Dekker, 1983. Kreger-van RiJ. (ed), The Yeasts: a taxonomic study. 3rd edn. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., 1984. McClinnis, Laboratory Handbook of Medical Mycology. New York: Academic Press, 1980. Odds, Candida and Candidosis. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1979.
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