DETECTION OF ANTICANDIDA ALBICANS IGE ANTIBODIES IN VAGINAL WASHES FRONT PATIENTS WITH ACUTE VULVO-VAGINAL CANDIDIASIS

Vaginal washes from 55 women were investigated by means of an ELISA me thod for the presence of IgE antibodies against Candida albicans. Thes e antibodies were detected in 87.1% of patients with clinical acute vu lvovaginal candidiasis (group I), 100% of patients with suspected vulv ovaginal candidiasis but negative by microscopy and culture (group II) , 0% of asymptomatic carriers (group III) and 33.3% of uninfected cont rols (group IV). Statistically significant differences were observed c omparing groups I and II vs. groups III and IV. The highest IgE vagina l antibody titers were mostly at the expense of serotype A C. albicans strains, which represented 83.3% of the C. albicans isolates. Non-C. albicans species also showed very low IgE levels. No correlation betwe en serum and vaginal IgE was found. Furthermore, a second determinatio n of vaginal IgE levels was performed in 3 patients. A decrease in IgE levels concomitant to a decline in clinical symptoms was observed in all of them after treatment.