External ecological niche for Candida albicans within reducing, oxygen-limited zones of wetlands.

Candida albicans within the human host is well studied; however, identifying environmental reservoirs of pathogens is epidemiologically valuable for disease management. Oxygen-limited, carbohydrate-rich zones of wetlands, to which sewage-borne C. albicans is often exposed, are characteristically similar to the gastrointestinal reservoir. Consequently, using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), we demonstrated that oxygen-limited zones in polluted wetlands may act as potential reservoirs of C. albicans.