Immunological profile of women suffering from recurrent candidal vaginitis

The pathogenesis of recurrent vaginal c and idosis in women with no predisposing factors is still poorly understood. Twenty women [20-45 years] suffering from this syndrome and 22 healthy females [control group] were included in this study. There was a decrease in the percentage of total T-cells in 65% of the patients and a decrease in the percentage of phagocytes in 80% of them, with a statistically significant decrease in their mean percentages compared to the controls. On assessing the T-cell function by the macrophage migration inhibition test, no significant difference between patients and controls was found on using the phytohemagglutinin as a mitogen. While a significant defect was found in the T-cell function among the patients compared to the controls when C and ida albicans antigen was used. The percentage of B-cells and T-helper, T-suppressor and TH:TS ratio were found not to be different when the patients and controls were compared