[Predisposing factors in candidiasis]

The Candida mycosis is an infection by Candida albicans and other Candida species. This disease is not initiated by contact of Candida with the normal skin and mucous membranes or by invasion into the healthy host. On the contrary the presence of predisposing factors is important to Candida mycosis. These predisposing factors are considered as an impairment of local and/or general immunity and transform the opportunistically pathogenic character of the fungus into a parasitic one. Thus the host's defence mechanisms alone favour the development of Candida mycosis.