The Impact of Intestinal Bacteria on Fungal Growth and Antibiotics.

Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology have found that certain bacterial species, including lactic acid bacteria, always appear in greater numbers when the amount of fungi from the Candida genus is also high in stool samples from cancer patients. The researchers developed a computer model that was able to predict the amount of Candida in another group of patients with an accuracy of about 80% based on bacterial species and amounts alone. The findings suggest that lactic acid bacteria, particularly of the genus Lactobacillus, favor Candida proliferation but at the same time make the fungus less virulent.