Short-term oral condidosis in rats, with special reference to the site of infection.

Following a short-tem oral inoculation of Candida albicans in rats during tetracycline medication, the carriage of and infection by Candida organisms were investigated. After an initial high incidence, a rapid decline ws registered. Five weeks following the first inoculation 33% of the animals showed a positive swab and 67% demonstrated pseudohyphal penetration of the oral mucosa. The most frequent sites of infection were the margin of the gingivae, the buccal mucosa. the buccal and lingual sulci and the tongue accounting for 98.8% of all foci. The highly selective patterns of colonization is believed to be related to the surface characteristics of the epithelium and the nature of the keratin.