Re: Making it Harder for Candida to Hold On

Thx Jorge,

You would think that with high epithelial turnover rates, you could simply stop the active infection with antifungals and wait for the intracellular-infected cells to die. Perhaps the intracellular yeast divides when the epithelial cells do. That's a scary thought.

It's also unclear what the lifespan of an intracellular yeast cell is, although everything I have read suggests that it is finite. I think it's safe to say that it will be much longer than extracellular yeast, if only because of the calorie restriction. These are two bits of information I would like to know.

I also remember reading that lipases and proteases become the dominant enzymes when they are intracellular. (Sorry, I don't have a link for that.) Even with a slower metabolism, they are still vulnerable at those two points. That's what makes the HIV drugs interesting. The research suggests that the drop in Candidiasis rates among those on Protease inhibitor cocktails is greater than can be explained by a simple boost to the immune system. And the protease inhibitors definitely cross cell membranes as HIV is an intracellular infection.

But HIV also hides out in brain, marrow, and intestinal cells by going dormant. I don't think Candida can go completely dormant in this way.

Anyway, the point of all this is that you may have to look beyond antifungals to beat your infection.

T.