Candida albicans colonization of the mucous membrane in acute manifestations of COVID-associated oral candidasis
Abstract
The study of long-term COVID-19 has become increasingly relevant in recent years and is becoming a priority in modern dentistry. The article presents the results of a study of COVID-associated oral candidiasis in patients with a post-COVID-19 condition. An important fact is that the change in the clinical course of acute oral candidiasis in patients with post-COVID-19 condition, in particular, acute pseudomembranous and acute erythematous candidiasis, is associated with the morphological transformation of Candida albicans . We are the first to observe the transformation of C. albicans from a yeast-like to a fungal form in patients with COVID-associated oral candidiasis, although the possibility of such transformation in vitro has been r e ported by other authors. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) method has shown the pattern of development of C. albicans yeast flora in the oral mucosa, which has been studied at sequential times during the development of acute oral candidiasis. At the onset of the disease, no fungal mycelium bundles have been found during SEM examination. By the third day of the disease, they are very few and small, which enables us to assess the state of local nonspecific resistance. By the seventh day after the onset of oral candidiasis, C. albicans filamentation is observed, as evidenced by the decrease in mycelial bundles. The results of these studies suggest that the appearance of signs of oral candidal infection is associated with epithelial desquamation and fil a mentation of C. albicans . The study of different types of vegetative cells of C. albicans will allow us to assess the stages of its cellular morphogenesis in order to prevent the development of COVID-associated oral candidiasis, to conduct earlier diagnostics and to plan treatment of patients with post-COVID-19 condition.References
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