Sex and Yeast

Posting Date: 12/19/2003

In the study, published in the December Journal of Women?s Health, researchers looked at 148 women with confirmed Candida vulvovaginitis and 78 of their male sexual partners. Each woman was examined by a doctor, who collected samples from the vagina, cervix, vulva, tongue and rectum. The men were asked to collect at home urine, fecal and semen samples and a tongue swabbing. The samples were analyzed by culture to determine whether Candida species were present at each site.

The women received treatment for their initial infection and were asked to return for follow-up visits after two weeks, four weeks, six months and a year. At each visit, they were asked about symptoms, sexual activity and changes in risk factors. Doctors repeated the pelvic exam and specimen collections.

The women were also told to return for testing any time they had symptoms of vaginal discharge, itching or odor. Doctors performed an exam and collected specimens at these visits as well. After the symptomatic visits, the men were also asked for new specimen collections. Thirty-three of the women developed at least one recurrent yeast infection within the year.

At the two-week and one-month visits, none of the women had symptoms of a yeast infection. But 20 percent had a positive culture for Candida in the vaginal area at the two-week visit and 29 percent tested positive for Candida after one month. The researchers found these women were no more likely to develop recurrent infections by the end of the one-year study period.

Among the men, nearly half tested positive for Candida species on the tongue and in the feces, while few showed Candida in their urine or semen. Researchers found no link between Candida in the men?s specimens and Candida at the women?s vulva, rectum or tongue. They also found no link between recurrent yeast infections and signs of Candida at any site in either the men or women.

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