The carriage of Candida albicans in the mouths of rats treated with tetracycline briefly or for a prolonged period

Rats given tetracycline in their drinking water for one week were orally inoculated with Candida albicans in the following week. Colonization of the mouth by the fungus resulted, whether the rats continued to receive tetracycline or not, over a period of 22 weeks. Histological changes indicative of oral candidosis were also found both in rats maintained on tetracycline throughout the experiment and in animals given the drug only initially. It is suggested that exposure to tetracycline as tested in this experiment causes a lasting reduction in the rat's ability to expel C. albicans, or an enhancement of the organism's colonizing propensities.