Experimental oral candidal infection and carriage of oral bacteria in rats subjected to a carbohydrate-rich diet and tetracycline treatment.

Oral candidal infection and the carriage of oral bacteria in rats has been studied in animals on a high carbohydrate diet and treated with tetracycline. Candidal infection was not significantly enhanced by carbohydrate alone but was promoted by tetracycline; carbohydrate plus tetracycline was no more effective than tetracycline alone. Carriage of lactobacilli was enhanced by carbohydrate but streptococcal carriage was depressed; there was no effect on the number of rats carrying enterobacteria. Administration of tetracycline reduced the carriage of all three groups of bacteria but the isolation rate for enterobacteria increased towards the end of the experiment, becoming nearly the same as at the start. The prevalence of C. albicans did not vary with these changes in bacterial populations.