Direct microscopical versus cultural method in screening for candidiasis among non gravid nigerian women.

The incidence of candidiasis in 125 symptomless, non-gravid women in Ile-Ife State Hospital, Ile-Ife, Oyo-State of Nigeria was determined by either microscopic observation or cultural methods. Among the three techniques investigated, the cultural method had the highest recovery rate with 60% of the cultures from 125 patients positive. Statistical analysis of the data (X2) demonstrated a significant difference between the recovery rates at the P less than 0.01 level. The implications of these findings were discussed in the text.