Loss of immune control in HIV-infected patients: how does mucosal candidiasis occur?

Untreated HIV infection causes progressive depletion of human CD4 T cells, which is accompanied by onset of various opportunistic infections (OIs) and ultimate development of AIDS. In HIV-infected patients, the order in which OIs appear is neither random nor determined solely by total CD4 T-cell count; there is a recognized clinical progression in which these OIs appear [1]. Mucosal candidiasis, predominantly caused by the commensal organism Candida albicans, is one of the early and most common manifestations in HIV-infected subjects [2].