Incidence of Vaginal Candidiasis in Leucorrhoea in Women Attending in OPD of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Department, Gurugobind Singh Hospital, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India

Background: Candida is the most common agent causing leucorrhoea affecting the women of all strata. It is becoming difficult to completely eradicate the infection mainly due to recurrence caused by non-albican species of Candida. Most of the non-albican species of Candida are resistant to commonly used antifungal agent - azole. Therefore, studying the Incidence of Candida species in vaginal secretion is of great significance. Objective: To study the incidence of Candidiasis in patients of leucorrhoea and identification of different species of candida found in leucorrhoea and to study the effect of pregnancy and age on infection rate in women Attending in OPD of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Department, Gurugobind Singh Hospital, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 300 patients with specific complaints of leucorrhea. Discharge was examined by direct wet preparation by KOH mount, Gram staining, and Culture on Sabouraud’s dextrose agar. Species differentiation was done by Germ tube formation, Sugar assimilation and Sugar Fermentation test. Results: In 19% of the women the leucorrhea was due to Candida infection with highest incidence in women of age (21-30 years). Incidence of candidiasis was higher in Pregnant(22.5%) compared to non-pregnant(16.6%). Candida albicans was the most common strain identified and Candida krusei was the least common one. Conclusion: Highest incidence found between 21-30 years age group, in pregnant women, in women from lower socio-economic class. Among candida species C.albicans was commonest followed by C.glabrata, C.tropicalis, C.krusei.