Studies on the Immunologic Relationships among Various Species of the Genus Candida (Monilia)

Abstract

INTRODUCTION In a previous report (1) on methods of classification of the nonascosporogenous, mycelia-producing yeastlike fungi of the genus Candida (Monilia), it was stated that the results of agglutination tests with immune rabbit sera were not sufficiently reliable to be used for species identification. Agglutination studies were only of confirmative value after identification by other means, i.e., morphology, sugar fermentations and pathogenicity. A study (2) of 233 strains of C. albicans, 110 strains of C. stellatoidea and 28 strains of C. tropicalis (M. candida) showed that these species were distinctly different in their colony characteristics, mycelial formation, fermenting action on sugars and pathogenicity for rabbits. However, the results of agglutination reactions between C. albicans and C. tropicalis showed no significant antigenic differences between the two species, confirming the results of Almon and Stovall (3) who concluded from absorption studies that “M. albicans and M. candida behaved as identical organisms.”