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Thrush - Overview

Alternative Names

Candidiasis - oral; Oral thrush

Definition of Thrush:

Thrush is a yeast infection of the mucous membranes of the mouth and tongue.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Thrush is caused by forms of a fungus called Candida. This organism lives in your mouth and is usually kept in check by healthy organisms that also live there. However, when your resistance to infection is low, the fungus can grow, leading to lesions in your mouth and on your tongue.

The following can lessen your resistance to infection and increase your chances of getting thrush:

Taking antibiotics or steroid medications
Having HIV infection or AIDS
Receiving chemotherapy for cancer or drugs to suppress your immune system following an organ transplant
Being very old or very young
Being in poor health
Having diabetes

Thrush is commonly seen in infants. It is not considered abnormal in infants unless it lasts longer than a couple of weeks.

Candida can also cause yeast infections in the vagina.

Candida, flourescent stain

Mouth anatomy

Reviewed last on: 7/25/2007
Kenneth M. Wener, MD, Department of Infectious Diseases. Lahey Clinic, Burlington, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

References

Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Textbook of Medicine. 22 ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders; 2004.

Marx JA, Hockberger RS, Walls RM, eds. Rosen’s Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 5th ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby; 2002.

Mandell GL, Bennett JE, Dolin R, eds. Principles of Infectious Diseases. 5th ed. New York, NY: Churchill Livingstone, 2000.

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