SIMULTANEOUS CARRIAGE OF CANDIDA-ALBICANS STRAINS FROM HIV-INFECTED PATIENTS WITH ORAL CANDIDIASIS - MULTILOCUS ENZYME ELECTROPHORESIS ANALYSIS

Genetic diversity of 160 Candida albicans isolates from the oral cavit y of 16 HIV-infected adults prior to antifungal treatment was assessed using multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (10 C. albicans colonies were randomly chosen from each specimen culture). 20 electrophoretic types were distinguished from the analysis of 21 enzyme loci (10 were polym orphic). Five patients (31%) were found to be colonized by 2 or 3 gene tically distinct strains. Nevertheless, in these five cases, one strai n predominated (from 7 to 9 of the 10 colonies). Some HIV + patients w ith oral candidiasis appear to be simultaneously infected with several genetically different C. albicans strains before antifungal treatment .