VULVO-VAGINAL CANDIDIASIS IN FEMALE SEX WORKERS

Vulvovaginal candidiasis is a frequent inflammatory process in women b ut it has not been widely studied in female sex workers (FSWs). To est imate the frequency of Candida species infection in FSWs and to identi fy related risk factors and clinical findings, we carried out a retros pective study of 1923 FSWs over 11 years. We also performed a prospect ive study of 163 consecutive FSWs with a history of candidiasis during a 4-year period. Candida species were isolated in 1967 samples (18.5% of the total). Candida albicans (89.3%) was the most frequent species , followed by Candida glabrata (2.7%), Candida parapsilosis (1.2%) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (0.4%). In the prospective study of 163 pati ents, we found vaginal discharge in 76.1% of cases, soreness in 52.1% and vulval pruritus in 32.5%. We identified 12 patients (7.4%) with re current vulvovaginal candidiasis. No statistical difference was found between recurrent vulvovaginitis and the use of oral contraceptives, o ral sex, tightfitting clothing and synthetic underwear. FSWs have the same prevalence of candidiasis as other groups of women described in p ublished literature. The proportion of albicans and non-albicans speci es does not differ between women with recurrent and non-recurrent vulv ovaginal candidiasis (WC).