Vulvovaginal candidiasis as_a_chronic_disease__.6

Vulvovaginal Candidiasis as a

Chronic Disease: Diagnostic

Criteria and Definition

Esther Hong, BSc, MBBS,1 Shreya Dixit, B Med Sci, MBBS(Hons),2

Paul L. Fidel, PhD,3 Jennifer Bradford, MBBS, FRANZCOG,4

and Gayle Fischer, MBBS(Hons), FACD1

1Northern Clinical School, University of Sydney; 2Department of Dermatology,Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, NSW, Australia; 3Louisiana State University

Health Sciences Center School of Dentistry, New Orleans, LA;and 4University of Western Sydney, NSW, Australia

h AbstractObjective. Although recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis

is defined as 4 or more discrete attacks of vulvovaginalcandidiasis per year, there is no diagnostic nomenclature ordefinition for the many women who are chronically symp-tomatic. This study aims to establish and propose a defini-tion and a set of diagnostic criteria, which would enableclinicians to promptly identify and treat womenwith chronicvulvovaginal candidiasis (CVVC).

Design. Prospective cohort study.Setting. Public and private vulvar dermatology out-

patient clinics in Sydney, Australia.Participants. Data were obtained prospectively from

50womenwith presumptive CVVC and 42 controls. Historicaland clinical features of CVVC identified by expert consensuswere compared between the 2 groups. Diagnostic criteriawere then prospectively applied to a further 163 patients toverify their accuracy.

Outcome Measures. Signs and symptoms diagnosticof CVVC.

Results. The following characteristics were found to besignificantlymore common inwomenwith CVVC comparedto controls (p e .001): a history of positive vaginal Candidaswab, discharge, dyspareunia, soreness, swelling, cyclicity,and exacerbation of symptoms with antibiotics.

Conclusions. We propose that CVVC can be confidentlydiagnosed using the major criteria of a chronic nonspecificand nonerosive vulvovaginitis that includes at least 5 ormore properties from the following criteria: soreness,dyspareunia, positive vaginal swab either at presentation orin the past, previous response to antifungal medication,exacerbation with antibiotics, cyclicity, swelling, and dis-charge. This condition responds reliably to oral antifungalmedication. h

Key Words: vulvovaginal, candidiasis, chronic, diagnosis,definition

We have frequently observed a subtype of VVC,

common in vulvar disease clinics, in which

patients’ symptoms are continuous rather than discretely

episodic. In a vulvar clinic situation, acute and even re-

current VVC is rarely encountered and we, therefore,

presume it is being successfully managed in primary

care. In contrast to recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis

(RVVC) where patients are asymptomatic between dis-

crete attacks, this third group has an as-yet undefined and

uncharacterized condition that we have termed chronic

vulvovaginal candidiasis (CVVC). In this condition, pa-

tients present with chronic, continuous symptoms, which

improve during menses and remit with antifungal ther-

apy, often recurring when this is ceased, particularly after

short course therapy. We have also observed that vaginal

swabs do not invariably demonstrate Candida at pre-

sentation even in the presence of intense symptoms and

obvious signs and that insisting on this as a diagnostic

Reprint requests to: Shreya Dixit, B Med Sci, MBBS(Hons), Departmentof Dermatology, Royal North Shore Hospital, Reserve Rd, St Leonards, NSW2065, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]

The authors have declared they have no conflicts of interest.

� 2013, American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology

Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease, Volume 18, Number 1, 2014, 31Y38

Copyright © 2013 American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.

criterion would limit our ability to identify and correctly

treat this condition.

Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is defined as vulvo-

vaginitis causally related to vaginal carriage of Candida

species and is a common problem associated with a high

level of morbidity. The burden of cost to the community

is significant and has been estimated at $1.8 billion per

year in the United States [1, 2]. Topical and oral anti-

fungal medications are readily available over the counter.

Many women self-medicate, generating extra costs in

medication use and false-negatives when medication has

been used before microbiologic confirmation.

There are 2 well-described subtypes of VVC that re-

late to the duration and frequency of disease: acute and

recurrent. In acute VVC, women experience signs and

symptoms of acute vaginitis with a heavy white discharge

sporadically. Candida is readily cultured from the vagina.

Acute VVC is common, estimated to affect up to 75% of

women during their lives and is usually easily diagnosed

and treated [1]. Recurrent VVC is defined as 4 or more

culture-proven episodes per year and is estimated to occur

in 5% of women. It is, however, difficult to know accu-

rately the true incidence of VVC because of widespread

self-diagnosis and self-treatment with over-the-counter

preparations [3].

The pathogenic mechanisms of recurrent VVC are

still not fully understood, and there is no simple and re-

liable diagnostic test. Self-medication may result in false-

positives in patients with clinical candidiasis, while, on

the other hand, we know that Candida is a commensal in

the genital tract, and a positive vaginal swab in the ab-

sence of signs and symptoms is without significance. As

a result, diagnosis can be surprisingly difficult. Cyclical

vulvovaginal itch, discharge, swelling, and pain are typical

features that have been previously identified [4]. VVC,

like many vulvar diseases, has the potential to cause great

psychologic distress and negatively impact a patient’s

quality of life (QoL) [5, 6].

This clinical syndrome is the focus of this article in

which we propose a definition and diagnostic criteria.

METHODS

The study was granted approval by the ethics committee

of the Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Ser-

vice and was conducted in 3 stages.

Stage 1: Expert Consensus to Establish Inclusion

Criteria

An online survey (Survey Monkey 2010) was sent to 18

experienced Australian vulvologists, all of whom were

members of the Australia and New Zealand Vulvovaginal

Society including dermatologists and gynecologists spe-

cializing in the treatment of vulvovaginal conditions.

Survey participants were asked to choose and rank those

clinical and historical features they considered most im-

portant in diagnosing candidiasis. There was a 72% re-

sponse to the survey. Results are shown in Table 1 and

were used to define the selection criteria for the study

cohort. Patients with a minimum of 5 of 8 clinical char-

acteristics considered characteristic of candidiasis were

included in the study. Although a positive vaginal swab

for Candida was found in most patients, this was not

considered an essential criterion.

Stage 2: Cohort Study

Between January and August 2010, patients were recruited

from a vulvar dermatology disease clinic in a tertiary

hospital and a private tertiary referral dermogynecology

practice in Sydney, Australia. All patients presenting

were screened for eligibility to participate in the study.

Inclusion criteria were women aged at least 18 years with

nonerosive vulval erythema and a minimum 3-month

history of chronic vulvar symptoms including a mini-

mum of 5 historical features as established by consensus.

A control group was chosen from patients with vulvar

erythema due to dermatitis or psoriasis, the appearance

of which closely resembles candidiasis on examination

and is easily confused clinically with CVVC. We were not

able to compare our CVVC patients to those with either

acute or recurrent VVC as we rarely encounter these

patients in a vulvar clinic situation. A total of 92 patients

were included in the study: 50 patients in the study group

and 42 patients in the control group.

Stage 3: Forward Testing of Diagnostic Criteria

Between October 2010 and July 2011, the diagnostic

criteria established from the initial study group were

then applied prospectively to a further 163 patients to

Table 1. Diagnostic Features in CVVC by Expert Consensus

Sign/symptom Concordance, %

Itch 90History of improvement with antifungal treatment 90Dyspareunia 88Previous positive vaginal swab 86Soreness 82Cyclicity 62Exacerbation with antibiotics 60Discharge 40

32 & H O N G E T A L .


determine their accuracy. All patients identified using the

criteria were fully responsive to oral antifungal therapy.

CVVC Questionnaire

A 61-item CVVC questionnaire was devised to allow

investigators to compare between the study cohort and

control groups, clinical features for diagnostic evaluation,

demographic data for comparing baseline characteristics,

as well as behavioral and QoL data. The QoL questions

were modified from the Dermatology Life Quality Index

(DLQI), a validated tool used widely in assessing the im-

pact of skin diseases such as psoriasis on a patients’ QoL

[7]. QoL data are not presented in this article.

Study Protocol

At the first visit, all patients completed the CVVC

Questionnaire. History and vulvar examination findings

at baseline were recorded, and a low vaginal swab for

Candida was also collected. Patients in the study group

were commenced on treatment with a 3-month course of

oral antifungal therapy, either fluconazole 50 to 100 mg

daily or itraconazole 100 mg daily. Patients in the con-

trol group were treated with topical corticosteroid alone

as appropriate to their condition. A follow-up visit was

conducted for all patients after 3 months where history,

questionnaire, and physical examination findings were

again recorded, as well as specific treatment type used and

clinical response to therapy. The target outcome desired

was complete resolution of objective signs and self-reported

symptoms. A complete response to the oral antifungal

treatment regimen, defined as resolution of symptoms and

resolution of objective inflammation, was used as confir-

mation of the provisional diagnosis of CVVC.

Statistical Analysis

Clinical and historical characteristics for the study cohort

and the control group were compared to determine sig-

nificant differences, sensitivity, specificity, and positive

and negative predictive values. Statistical analyses were

performed using SPSS v17. For univariate analysis, W2 test

and 2-tailed Fisher exact test were used, where values of

p G .05 were considered significant and p G .01 were

considered highly significant. Multivariable logistic regres-

sion and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses

were used to determine diagnostic criteria for CVVC.

RESULTS

The following items relating to signs and symptoms were

all significantly more common in the CVVC study cohort

compared to the control group (with p e .001): soreness,

dyspareunia, cyclicity, vulvovaginal swelling vaginal dis-

charge, and positive vaginal swab for Candida. The fol-

lowing historical features were all significantly more

likely in the CVVC group (p G .001): history of previous

positive Candida vaginal swab while symptomatic, ex-

acerbation of symptoms with oral antibiotics, and history

of improvement with any antifungal treatment even if

brief. At the follow-up visit, response to 3 months of oral

antifungal therapy was measured. All women with CVVC

had complete resolution of signs and symptoms with

prolonged daily oral antifungal treatment (p G .001). It

should be especially noted that 68% of the study group

and 7% of the control group had a positive swab at pre-

sentation. This is a significant difference; however, there

still remained 32% of patients who were fully responsive

to oral antifungal therapy who had a negative swab.

Eight clinical and historical features were identified as

being significantly more common in the CVVC group

(with high statistical significance, p e .001). Table 2

highlights odds ratios (ORs) associated with these fea-

tures. Patients in the CVVC group were 79 times more

likely to have had a previous positive Candida swab than

women in the control group. Exacerbation with oral

antibiotics and vaginal discharge were more than

25 times more likely in patients with CVVC. Cyclicity of

symptoms and dyspareunia were 17 and 9 times more

likely in CVVC, respectively, whereas soreness and

Table 2. Statistical Analysis of Criteria V Control Versus CVVC

Total no. Cases (n = 50), n (%) Controls (n = 42), n (%) OR (95% CI)

a) Previous response to antifungals 92 50 (100) 3 (7.1) n/ab) Previous or current positive swab 92 43 (86.0) 3 (7.1) 79.86 (19.30Y330.5)c) Exacerbation with antibiotics 86 30 (68.2) 3 (7.1) 27.86 (7.33Y105.8)d) Discharge 92 42 (84.0) 7 (16.7) 26.25 (8.66Y79.58)e) Cyclicity 88 30 (65.2) 4 (9.5) 17.81 (5.39Y58.88)f) Dyspareunia 92 43 (86.0) 16 (38.1) 9.98 (3.63Y27.49)g) Soreness 92 44 (88.0) 24 (57.1) 5.50 (1.93Y15.71)h) Swelling 92 31 (62.0) 10 (23.8) 5.22 (2.10Y12.99)

Vulvovaginal Candidiasis as a Chronic Disease & 33


swelling were 5 times more likely to be found in the

CVVC group compared to controls.

Vulvovaginal itch was not a significant distinguishing

feature of CVVC in our study group as it was present in

88% of the control group also. A history of atopy was

associated more frequently with the control group

(71% vs 50%, p G .05), and more women in the CVVC

group reported an improvement of their vulvovaginal

symptoms during pregnancy (53% vs 20%, p G .05).

However, neither atopic history nor improvement during

pregnancy significantly differed between the 2 groups.

Qualitative data on suspected risk factors for CVVC

were collected and analyzed using a 5-point Likert scale,

where 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neither

agree or disagree, 4 = agree, and 5 = strongly agree. Mean

scores for each item were used to compare the 2 patient

groups. Figure 1 summarizes the findings. A mean score

less than 3 was represented as a negative value or dis-

agreeing with a statement. Mean scores greater than

3 (agreeing with a statement) were represented as positive

values. A mean score equal to 3 was interpreted as being

‘‘neutral’’ and assigned a value of zero.

Of the 34 patients in the CVVC group that had posi-

tive Candida swabs taken at the start of the study, only

1 swab was identified as Candida glabrata, the rest were

Candida albicans. A history of a positive Candida swab

during the course of their disease was reported in 86% of

women in the CVVC group.

Figure 1. Hormonal influence on symptoms.

Figure 2. Number of criteria met (CVVC vs control).

34 & H O N G E T A L .


A selected multivariable logistic regression analysis of

8 significant features for the identification of CVVC

demonstrated 4 criteria (positive swab, cyclicity, soreness,

and discharge) to have excellent predictive validity as

diagnostic criteria. The corresponding area under the

receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.969 (95%

confidence interval [CI] = 0.935Y1.00). According to

these analyses, patients with any 2 of the 4 aforemen-

tioned criteria (except soreness with discharge only)

may be accurately classified as having CVVC in this

study. The proposed diagnostic criteria gave a sensitiv-

ity of 0.90 (95% CI = 0.77Y0.96), specificity of 0.98 (95%

CI = 0.86Y1.00), positive predictive value of 0.98 (95% CI =

0.87Y1.00), negative predictive value of 0.89 (95% CI =

0.76Y0.96), and positive likelihood ratio of 37.8 (95%

CI = 5.44Y262.7).

The 8 historical and clinical features found to be sig-

nificant discriminators for CVVC were analyzed further

to determine how many features were present for each

patient across both groups. Results are summarized in

Figure 2. In the CVVC group, no women had fewer than

3 of the 8 criteria. Most CVVC women (88%) fulfilled 4

to 8 of 8 criteria. In the control group, no patients met

more than 4 of 8 criteria, whereas 95% of control pa-

tients met 0 to 3 criteria only. Table 3 outlines the diag-

nostic criteria.

These criteria were prospectively applied to a further

163 patients to determine their accuracy. Of these

patients, 86.5% fulfilled 1 major and 5 or more minor

criteria, and the remainder had a presumptive diagnosis

with 3 to 4 minor criteria. All patients (100%) with a

definite diagnosis responded to oral antifungal therapy

within 3 months.

Table 4 compares the percentage of prospectively

studied patients with the control group. In both the orig-

inal study group and the prospective group, the criteria

were found to be highly significant compared to controls.

DISCUSSION

CVVC seems to exist on a spectrum with acute and re-

current variants of VVC but presents as a different entity.

We propose that it be defined as a chronic nonerosive

vulvovaginitis causally related to Candida. These patients’

symptoms are not recurrent but chronic and continuous,

remitting only during treatment with antifungal medica-

tion and frequently recurring rapidly on cessation. Our

results show that CVVC may be diagnosed using the

criteria set out in Table 3. This in turn results in the

ability to predict which patients will reliably benefit from

oral antifungal treatment.

Positive vaginal swabs were found in 68% of women

in the original study group and 81.6% of women in the

prospective group at the initial visit. Women with CVVC

in our study were found to have very low rates of positive

microscopy examinations for their swabs, and indeed, the

majority had completely normal microscopy. There are a

number of possible explanations for these results. The

ready availability of over-the-counter antifungal agents

used by patients who self-diagnose their CVVC may be

responsible. There are no data on how long antifungals

should be ceased for before a culture can become positive

again, and even if this were available, there is likely to be

a wide range between individuals. Women with CVVC

may also have lower Candida counts in the vaginal

epithelium that trigger symptoms compared to women

with more acute forms of VVC. Another possible but less

likely explanation is that the Candida strains found in

CVVC may differ to those implicit in more acute VVC

and may be more fastidious and difficult to culture. In

future studies of CVVC, it may be useful to use various

media other than CHROMagar for swab cultures and

polymerase chain reaction, which has not yet been shown

to be more sensitive than culture for Candida detection

Table 3. Diagnostic Criteria for Chronic VulvovaginalCandidiasis

& Diagnostic: One major + 5 minor criteria& Presumptive: One major + 3Y4 minor criteria

Major Criterion:& Chronic nonerosive, nonspecific vulvovaginitis

Minor Criteria: Q5& Positive vaginal swab either on presentation or in the past& Soreness& Cyclicity& Dyspareunia& Previous response to antifungal therapy even if incomplete& Exacerbation with antibiotics& Swelling& Discharge

Table 4. Results From the Prospective Group Comparedto the Control Group

Diagnostic criteria

Prospective(n = 163),n (%)

Controls(n = 42),n (%) p

Previous response to antifungals 139 (85.3) 3 (7.1) G.0001Previous or current positive swab 133 (81.6) 3 (7.1) G.0001Exacerbation with antibiotics 126 (77.3) 3 (7.1) G.0001Discharge 102 (62.6) 7 (16.7) G.0001Cyclicity 131 (80.4) 4 (9.5) G.0001Dyspareunia 153 (93.9) 16 (38.1) G.0001Soreness 146 (89.6) 24 (57.1) G.0001Swelling 103 (63.2) 10 (23.8) G.0001



[8]. Our own experience with Candida polymerase chain

reaction reflects this, and we have not found it to be

positive unless there is also a positive culture. It is not

a routinely available test in Australia and was not per-

formed on our study cohort.

Sobel [5] reported that low microscopy counts corre-

lated with low culture numbers, which, in turn, was as-

sociated with asymptomatic carriage of Candida and that

high counts correlated with greater severity of signs and

symptoms. The patients in our study had highly symp-

tomatic disease despite low microscopy counts, which

may suggest a hypersensitivity to Candida by these ge-

netically susceptible women in producing symptomatic

CVVC. Importantly, a positive culture on presentation is

not essential for the diagnosis of CVVC provided there

are sufficient other diagnostic features present. This is a

significant difference from acute and recurrent VVC,

which both, by definition, require a positive culture for

diagnosis and may support the notion that CVVC is a

hypersensitivity reaction, which continues in the absence

of detectable Candida in the vagina. There is a possibility

that Candida in the bowel may be the antigenic stimulus

for a vaginal, estrogen-mediated hypersensitivity response.

This could explain why oral antifungal medication is so

much more effective than topical vaginal antifungals in

treating CVVC. Further investigation is required to ex-

plain the possibility of this phenomenon.

The pathogenic mechanisms that explain how a nor-

mal commensal organism of the genital tract can cause

severe chronic symptoms in otherwise healthy women,

even in the absence of a positive vaginal swab, remain

unknown, and further studies are required to elucidate

this. In acute VVC and recurrent VVC (which, by defi-

nition, is simply frequent attacks of acute VVC), an in-

termittent increase in vaginal Candida colonization,

associated with typical signs of acute inflammation (itch,

soreness, sudden onset of intense vaginal erythema, typ-

ical white cheesy discharge, polymorphonuclear leuko-

cytes [PMNs] on vaginal swab, and positive culture for

Candida) occurs. A short course of topical or oral anti-

fungal medication is usually effective. In CVVC, the

clinical picture is quite different. Inflammation, although

at times intense, is variable or even absent, particularly

during menses. Discharge is frequent but inoffensive and

mucoid, lacking in PMNs and usually normal to micros-

copy. Symptoms (itch, soreness, dyspareunia) are complex

and continuous, flaring premenstrually. Short-course top-

ical and oral antifungals afford brief and incomplete relief.

It would seem that high estrogen states, which have

been highlighted in previous publications as a risk factor,

are important [9Y12]. The control group did not report

any cyclical change in symptoms, whereas it is charac-

teristic of the CVVC group’s symptoms to worsen during

the premenstrual phase and improve markedly during

menstruation. In addition, CVVC is not seen in prepu-

bertal children or postmenopausal women unless the latter

are on hormone replacement therapy [13, 14].

Immunodeficiency has been postulated as a factor;

however, in this study, all patients were systemically well,

were not immunosuppressed, and had no oral involve-

ment. A study by Fidel et al. [15] using a live intravaginal

Candida challenge showed that patients with candidiasis

in fact mount an exaggerated inflammatory response to

the organism and also that these patients have a history

of previous susceptibility. A lack of inflammation is

attributed to protection from symptoms. These data, to-

gether with our finding in this study that the presence of

a discharge that is not characterized by the presence of

polymorphs, may suggest that Candida is behaving as an

antigen producing an inflammatory response in geneti-

cally susceptible individuals. The difference between this

effect in patients with acute or recurrent VVC and CVVC

may simply be one of degree; however, this has not been

demonstrated. It is possible that there is a threshold be-

yond which patients react to Candida in a maladaptive

way and that it is lowest in CVVC. Our empirical ob-

servation has been that CVVC patients have often, his-

torically, evolved from RVVC to CVVC, and we postulate

that a diminishing threshold is associated with a progres-

sive increase in intolerance of the organism and symp-

toms. Prolonged antifungal therapy may be effective in

reducing this threshold.

The idea that CVVC is a maladaptive inflammatory

response rather than an immune deficiency explains par-

adoxes that have so far confounded investigators, in-

cluding lack of local or systemic immune deficiency, the

fact that it is no more common in HIV-infected patients

than healthy patients, the lack of oral involvement, and

irrelevance of infection by the male partner. Candida

antigen interaction with specific estrogen receptors present

in vulvovaginal tissue may explain why there is almost

never oral involvement, why symptoms cycle, why

CVVC is not seen in low estrogen states, and why patients

may improve in pregnancy when estrogen receptors are

downregulated.

Itch was one of the most common presenting com-

plaints in both the study (92%) and control (88%)

groups, and although it is characteristic, it is nonspecific

for VVC. Itch has been used as a diagnostic feature in

previous studies of acute and recurrent VVC but was not

36 & H O N G E T A L .


a sensitive marker useful in the diagnosis of CVVC in this

study (p 9 .05) [16]. Patients complaining of vaginal itch

in the absence of other features should not be assumed to

have VVC. We believe this is an important point, as this

is a very common assumption.

The treatment of chronic and recurrent VVC requires

long-term continuous suppressive therapy, often for more

than 6 months. Given the lengthy duration of treatment

necessary to achieve control of CVVC, oral antifungals

are a more attractive option over topicals, less likely to

cause irritant reactions, and not significantly more ex-

pensive than an equivalent number of antifungal pessaries.

Itraconazole and fluconazole are associated with a better

liver safety profile compared to ketoconazole (100 mg

daily in previous studies), and none of our patients expe-

rienced any adverse effects. We have previously empiri-

cally observed that daily dosing is more reliable than

the widely published treatment regimen of weekly 150 mg

of fluconazole, which we have often observed to fail.

Thus, women were initially treated with daily itraconazole

100 mg or fluconazole 50 mg, until symptom resolu-

tion was achieved, usually approximately 1 to 3 months.

Thereafter, a maintenance dose was reached by tapering

the dose. The time needed for symptom resolution varied

between individuals, but many women were able to

maintain symptom control with once- or twice-weekly 50-

to 100-mg doses. Women were also instructed to take

rescue doses during oral antibiotic treatment, especially

if this was a known previous precipitant of flares. Con-

comitant antifungal therapy may prevent the flare expe-

rienced by some women with CVVC during antibiotic

therapy for other infections. Boric acid vaginal supposi-

tories (600 mg used twice daily) have been shown to be

effective in some treatment-resistant cases of VVC, for

example, with C. glabrata colonization, and were used to

treat our single patient with C. glabrata on vaginal swab

[17]. Given the very large cost burden of treatment of

all forms of VVC, it is important to correctly identify

patients who will genuinely benefit from treatment.

Despite the absence of a placebo control group, the rates

of response were much higher than one would expect

from placebo effect in correctly selected patients.

Donders et al. [18] have called for RVVC to be

regarded as a chronic condition. We agree that this is a

worthy idea based on the need for prolonged treatment;

however, we believe that a condition that behaves chron-

ically should be called a chronic condition.

There is still a great deal of research that is required to

explain both RVVC and CVVC, which may indeed exist

on a spectrum.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients presenting with chronic, erythematous non-

erosive vulvovaginitis who answered ‘‘yes’’ to at least 5 of

the 8 criteria, which we identified as most characteristic

of this condition (Table 3), responded to a 3-month

course of oral antifungal medication with complete res-

olution of symptoms and signs in 100% of patients.

These criteria were subsequently verified in a further

group of 163 patients. This included patients with a

negative vaginal swab for Candida at presentation. We

propose that these diagnostic criteria may be useful in

correctly identifying patients who will be genuinely re-

sponsive to oral antifungal therapy and that CVVC

may be defined as a chronic nonerosive vulvovaginitis

causally associated with the antigenic effects of Candida.

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