A Comparative Study of Oral Candidal Carriage and Its Association with CD4 Count between HIV-Positive and Healthy Individuals

Abstract

To correlate asymptomatic oral candidal carriage in HIV-positive patients and normal individuals and determine its association with CD4 count. Forty HIV-positive patients and forty healthy individuals were included in this study. Saliva from both groups was collected by the spitting method. The saliva from each individual was incubated aerobically on Sabouraud Dextrose agar with antibiotics at 37°C. The germ tube method was used for differentiation of candidal species, whether the Candida albicans or non-Candida albicans. Surface count method was used to count the number of colonies of candida species. Data were analyzed by chi square and Mann-Whitney test. Oral candidal carriage was found in 22 out of 40 (55%) HIV-positive patients. In healthy volunteers, oral candidal carriage was found in 6 out of 40 (15%) individuals (p value = 0.0002), which is significantly higher. Similarly, density carriage in the HIV-positive patients was found to be significantly higher than that in the HIV-negative group (p value = 0.002). However, oral yeast carriage was not associated with CD4 count (correlation coefficient r = -0.087). Within the limits of the study, we concluded oral candidal carriage rate and density carriage higher in HIV-positive patients than in healthy individuals.