Baseline incidence of intussusception in early childhood before rotavirus vaccine introduction, the Netherlands, January 2008 to December 2012.

OBJECTIVE

Human candidiasis is typically treated with antifungal drugs, but the rise of drug-resistant strains of Candida spp. poses a serious problem, making treatment difficult. At the same time, photodynamic therapy (PDT) has drawn increasing attention from researchers for its potential to effectively inhibit multidrug-resistant pathogenic fungi and for its low tendency to induce drug resistance. This study's goal was to examine how a multidrug-resistant oral isolate of Candida albicans responded to a PDT that used a curcumin/H202 formulation as a photosensitizer and was exposed to various light sources.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

A commercial product containing curcumin/H2O2 3% was used as a photosensitizer and evaluated in a PDT treatment that can use two different light sources: traditional irradiation with 7 W light at λ = 460 nm or a new, never evaluated, polarized light source of 25 W with a wavelength range of λ = 380-3,400 nm. The antimicrobial activity of these procedures was assessed on a clinical oral isolate of Candida albicans, in terms of agar susceptibility test, growth curve behavior, and biofilm inhibition.

RESULTS

Both light sources were able to activate the photosensitizer formulation, suggesting a fungistatic activity vs. this C. albicans MDR strain. An interesting difference was observed in the cell-generation-time (CGTOD) after PDT treatment, where the polarized light was more active compared to the source of 460 nm. In fact, CGTOD was 16 and 8 hours, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The PDT evaluated here presented an inhibition window time, a crucial point for clinicians, who could activate an additional prophylactic treatment to resolve the clinical management of Candida infections in the oral cavity.