Napkin (diaper) dermatitis and gastrointestinal carriage of Candida albicans.

The correlation of recovery of Candida albicans from the skin, rectum and faeces of four clinically distinct groups of infants with napkin (diaper) dermatitis has been studied. We found that: (I) C. albicans is largely and constantly present both on the skin and in faeces of subjects with clinically overt Candidiasis of the napkin area; (2) C. albicans is lacking from both the skin and faeces of subjects with chafing or atopic dermatitis; (3) C. albicans can be found in faeces of subjects with unclassifiable napkin dermatitis in a direct relationship with its clinical severity; (4) failure to recover C. albicans from the skin can be due to the inhibitory effect of the inflammatory host reaction and therefore can be misleading.