Your Complete Reference Guide to Yeast Infection

What may arguably be the most commonly known yeast infection or form of candidiasis in the world today is thrush, which affects mostly female genitalia. (It is rare, though not impossible, for men to contract the disease.) But yeast infections actually do not limit themselves to either gender, and simply affect certain areas of the human body.

Yeast infections are infections confined specifically to the skin or mucous-like membrane, caused in human beings by a genus of fungi called Candida. It appears in laboratory-cultured agar plates as large, round colonies colored white, cream or whitish-gray. One of its most famous (or rather infamous) species is Candida albicans, though it must be noted that Candida albicans is not the only species that causes yeast infections in human beings.

Candida albicans lives peacefully with other flora in the human body, its growth kept in check by a certain bacteria. It makes its home inside the dark, warm, wet areas of the body. This is why yeast infections are found in areas such as the ears, the mouth, the blood, the gastrointestinal or gut area and yes, the area down there. However, it also likes human skin, particularly warm, wet sections which like skin folds and armpits.

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