Yeast Infection In The Throat

What if I told you that the bread you eat everyday is actually made up of the same species of fungus that causes vaginal candidiasis? Well this statement is partly true. Yeasts that are used for baking and yeasts that cause infection are of the same species but the differ in the more detailed sub specification. It is the opportunistic yeast that cause really bad infections in humans.

Yeast infection is commonly caused by the fungi Candida albicans which ironically is located all over the body as part of its normal flora. Candidiasis can cause several types of infections to the body in different parts. Such parts would include the mouth, lips, skin, vagina and many others. The most common effect of this infection in humans is itching and irritation. A lot of people know the infection but throat yeast infection is rarely being spoken or described. Throat yeast infection, as the name implies, is the infection of the throat by a Candida fungus. Assessment of the throat would usually reveal the presence of several lesions at the back of the throat which may be slightly raised and vary in color from white to yellow. In some cases, this infection is not localized in the throat but may also spread to neighboring areas such as the buccal mucosa, tongue, and sometimes the lips. Since this fungus may cause itching and irritation, the person may manifest frequent clearing of the throat and swallowing of saliva which in turn causes the surrounding tissues of the throat to be reddened and sometimes it causes stomach upsets.

Theses infections may be caused by a variety or reasons. One of the most common reasons is the act of oral sex with a partner with such an infection. This is also the reason why majority of the cases involve single individuals with an age bracket of 16-30 who have multiple sex partners. Diagnosing this type of infection is easy. Your doctor will take a sample of the infection to view under a microscope or through culturing to determine the species causing the infection. Once the diagnosis is made,  the doctor will give you a prescription for medications that will treat the infection. Antimycotics such as clotrimazole and nystatin have been known to produce good results. One important thing about these medications that health workers fail include in their health teaching is that this medication should be tapered. This means that a person must be able to take the prescribed medication religiously by not missing a dose. If the prescription says, take the drug twice a day for seven days, you must take it for seven days.

Some fungal infections usually disappear during the second day of treatment that is why many people stop taking the drug. Choosing to stop taking the  medication below the prescribed dose and time can cause fungal tolerance. Which means that the infection will come back in a few days and the doctor will need a stronger does of medications to completely eradicate it. Proper patient education and compliance will help treat this simple infection before it complicates.