Incidence of yeasts in pregnant and non-pregnant women in Nigeria.

The yeast flora of vagina and associated sites (cervix, urethra, perineum and rectum) in 224 pregnant and 106 non-pregnant Nigerian women was investigated. A variety of yeasts represented by 12 species were isolated. Candida albicans was the most frequently isolated species in both groups, accounting for 63.6% of the isolates from pregnant women and 44.8% of the isolates from non-pregnant women. Other species of yeasts infrequently or occasionally encountered were Torulopsis glabrata, C. tropicalis, C. pseudotropicalis, C. parapsilosis, C. krusei, C. guilliermondii, C. stellatoidea, T. candida, T. etchellsii, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Rhodotorula rubra and Cryptococcus uniguttulatus. C. albicans was also the principal species recovered from symptomatic cases in both groups, followed by T. glabrata in pregnant women and C. parapsilosis in non-pregnant women.