Prevalence of Candida Species in Patients with Psoriasis

Investigation of Candida yeast prevalence in patients with psoriasis has been performed with the aim of determining their possible role as a trigger factor in the pathogenic process of this disease. The purpose of our study was to investigate the prevalence of Candida species on the skin of intertriginous areas and psoriasis lesions as well as the prevalence of Candida species in the stool of patients with psoriasis. This study also examines a possible correlation between the severity of psoriasis and prevalence of isolated Candida species. The patients with psoriasis were divided into two groups according to the clinical type of psoriasis; a group with plaque psoriasis (PP) and psoriasis inversa (PI) (G1) and a group with psoriasis erythrodermica (PE) and psoriasis pustulosa (PPS) (G2). The group of patients with PP and PI (G1) was divided according to score on the Psoriasis Area Severity Index test (PASI) according to severity of disease into the clinical subgroup with PASI <50 and another subgroup with PASI >50. Mycological analysis of skin samples in patients of the clinical group with PP and PI showed a statistically significant difference as well as correlation between the results of isolated specimens of Candida species from the skin of intertriginous areas and psoriasis lesions, the clinical form of psoriasis, and the PASI score.