Vulvovaginal candidiasis in pregnancy

ABSTRACT

Vulvovaginal candidiais [VVC] is a common cause of vaginitis during pregnancy. Although the disease is rarely life threatening, it is a source of great physical and psychological discomfort and suffering. High Vaginal swabs [HVS] were collected from 50 pregnant women and subjected to Gram's smear, 10% KOH wet mount and culture. Candida was isolated from 48% of all cultures. However, Gram's smear and KOH mount revealed only 38% positivity with 10% showing both Candida spores and pseudohyphae. Multigravidae [60%] were more commonly affected than primigravidae [40%]. The common presenting signs and symptoms of VVC in present study were excessive vaginal discharge [100%], vaginal pruritis [91.6%] and vaginal burning [75%]. Although Gram's stain/ KOH mount is a valuable method in rapid diagnosis of symptomatic VVC as the invasive forms of yeast can also be demonstrated, yet its low sensitivity as compared to cultures could restrict the use in routine practice. Thus the best approach for the diagnosis of VVC is a combination of culture and Gram's smear/ or KOH mount