Candida Blood Testing

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Disclaimer: I am NOT a medical professional. I am a CFS sufferer who is relaying some of his experiences and opinions. None of the information on these pages is to be construed as medical advice. Please see a doctor for such advice. For further disclaimer information, see Expanded Disclaimer.

Many mainstream doctors contend that Candida overgrowth rarely occurs in people who are not HIV positive, have leukemia are not otherwise severely immune-suppressed.

There are blood tests backed by peer-reviewed research which can detect Candida overgrowth. I tested positive on these tests. I do not have HIV, leukemia or any other immune suppressing condition. I am not on my death-bed. I have corresponded with other individuals that have also tested positive and are not immune suppressed. The fact that any of us are around, means that the conventional wisdom is wrong. At the very least, it mandates further research.

The biggest problem in proving the existence of Candida Related Complex in non-immune compromised people is that until very recently, there were no good tests for the condition. Everyone has Candida in their system and in small amounts it is harmless. It is only in larger amounts that Candida is harmful.

Therefore it is tricky to test for Candida. Simply showing that Candida is present in a person's system is useless. What are needed are tests that show how much is present in the system.

The IgA, IgG, and IgM are three tests which are somewhat reliable separately, and together have a good degree of reliability. The candida immune complexes test is even more reliable.

See the Immune Assay Labs site for a good write-up on this.

Supporting Studies

The following studies show that the IgA, IgG, and IgM studies have a good degree of reliability with an extremely low occurrence of false positives.

Antibody response to Candida and its use in clinical practice.

Mycoses, vol. 37, pg. 199-204

This report is excellent and very informative with many good references. The study establishes benchmarks for the tests in children.

Automated reading and processing of quantitative IgG, IgM, IgA, and IgE
isotypic agglutination results in microplates. Development and application
in parasitology-mycology.

J Immunol Methods, VOL. 186, pg. 323-8

Shows that automated readings of test results are reliable.

Surveillance tests for the diagnosis of invasive fungal infections in bone
marrow transplant recipients.

Scand J Infect Dis 1989;21(2):205-212

An early study showing the usefulness of blood testing for Candida.

An enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of serum IgA against Candida Albicans in blood donors and patients .

Serodiagn Immunother Infect Dis 1993; Vol. 5, pg. 171-176

Sets benchmarks for the levels of IgA, IgG, and IgM in adults. My local medical school has volumes 1-4 of this journal, but not volume 5. I am still looking for this one.

Immune Complexes To Candida Mannan: An Objective Marker Of Candida Overgrowth.

Journal of Advancement in Medicine, Fall 1997, Vol. 10, No. 3 (Published by the American College for Advancement of Medicine)

This study shows several interesting facts. It shows that the Candida Immune Complexes test has a high degree of correlation with Candida symptoms. It also shows that stool tests are very unreliable.
Unfortunately, the study had a high drop-out rate and was published in a journal that is not prestigious. Nonetheless, it is in agreement with the experiences of numerous Candida sufferers.

The study should be followed up and published in more respected journals. Given the resistance of the medical community to studying this condition, I hold out little hope this will happen.

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