AbstractsCandida vulvovaginitis is characterized by a protean symptomatology and uncertainty as to the pathological significance of Candida species in the vagina. Various authorities have stated that the use of antibiotics predisposes to an increased prevalence of vaginal yeasts and sometimes to symptomatic candidosis. Careful surveys, however, have failed to show such an association. The present study was undertaken to reexamine relationships between prevalences and quantities of vaginal yeasts in a group of patients broken down according to age, antibiotic clinical evidence of Candida infection occurred in relatively low numbers. The highest prevalence of vaginal yeasts and the highest yeast counts per sample were associated with the most severe clinical forms of candidosis. The distribution of Candida species andC. albicansbiotypes also varied significantly according to the patients' clinical scores (Table 2), although the significance was only just below the chance level (P = 0.01). Species other than C.albicansand its biotypes in group A (mainly types 200 and 400) were less commonly associated with high clinical scores, whereas biotypes in groups C and F appeared to be more commonly associated with high clinical scores (biotypes 055, 057, 153, 157, and 357 were the dominant individual biotypes in these groups).Clinical score did not vary significantly with a patient's age, season of the year, stage of the menstrual cycle, antibiotic use, or contraceptive use. This finding corroborates the lack of association between Candida carriage and the variables in question.