Background: The pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), is related to the effect of fungal presence in the gastrointestinal tract (GI) on IBD development.
Material/methods: One hundred twenty-six patients underwent mycological investigation. We analyzed of the occurrence of fungal infection in the clinical material collected from the GI tract of patients with IBD and control groups. We assessed fungal flora transmission from the oral cavity to further segments of the GI tract based on comparative studies of genotypes of fungal strains. The studies were carried out using conventional methods. The fungal genotypes were determined with the PCR-RAPD method.
Results: Of 407 samples, 220 of them had fungi. The most frequently isolated species was C. albicans in patients with IBD and in control group, respectively 84.4% and 81%. Analysis of the streak patterns of the products of the PCR-RAPD reaction carried out for C. albicans strains isolated from the material collected from 10 patients, showed 100% affinity between the strains cultivated from the same patient. Genetic affinity between the strains was confirmed in 3 primers used in the examination.
Conclusions: The presence of fungi in the oral cavity of patients with IBD may affect more frequent colonization of the colonic mucosa in the active phase of disease. Genetic affinity of C. albicans strains indicates the possibility of fungal transmission from the oral cavity to further segments of the GI tract.