Survey of the Yeast Population in Saliva and an Evaluation of Some Procedures for Identification of Candida albicans

¹ Department of Microbiology and the Murry and Leonie Guggenheim Foundation, Institute of Dental Research, New York University, College of Dentistry, New York, New York

A survey was made of 320 saliva specimens from 160 individuals, twenty to thirty years of age, one half stimulated, the other half unstimulated, cultured on a modified Littman's medium. Forty per cent of the specimens contained "yeasts," of which 75.8 per cent proved to be Candida spp. and 60 per cent C. albicans. Cream-of-rice agar and corn-meal agar were found superior to other media for the rapid and abundant production of chlamydospores. The Pagano-Levin medium was an aid in the presumptive identification of strains of C. albicans.