[Clinical and immunological study of 2 cases of systemic candidiasis]

Two cases of chronic systemic candidiasis of the infancy are presented and their immunity in vivo and in vitro is studied. The clinical course, the negative intradermal tests to Candida extract and the absence of lymphoblastic transformation to the same antigen, suggest an immunological deficit of the cell mediated immunity. The positive response to intradermal test of bacterial antigens, the clinical recovery from infections different from Candida albicans and the positivity of the patch test to DNCB suggest the possibility of a selective immunological reponse (macrophage inability of precessing Candida albicans). The authors give a pathogenic hypothesis of the two different clinical cases (granuloma and erythematous-scaly sesions), based on the different capacity in producing MIF.