Some medically-important Candia species can survive on inner clothing materials in close contact with human genital and extragenital areas. Since soaps and bleach are known to possess antimicrobial properties, this preliminary study was to investigate the candidastic effects of bleach products and commonly available industrial soaps on multi-drug resistant Candida species. Using a modification of agar well-diffusion method, 60 strains from oral rinses / swabs and vulvovaginal C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. pseudotropicalis and C. tropicalis isolated from endocervical / high vaginal swabs of patients presenting for sexually transmissible infections were screened to determine their in vitro susceptibilities to 18 industrial soaps and three brands of bleach samples. Undiluted bleach samples (RBL1, RBL2 and RBL3) were the most inhibitory concentrations, with 10.0-44.0%, 94.0-100% and 96.0- 100% of the Candida strains inhibited in vitro by the respective bleach products. Only 4.0 - 10.0% (C. pseudotropicalis), 5.9 - 10.0% (C. albicans) and 20.0 - 30.0% (C. glabrata) strains were inhibited in vitro at the manufacturers’ dilution specifications for the bleach products, while inhibitions at dilution 1:10 were 8.0-16.0% (C. glabrata) and 5.8-10.0% respectively. Only 4.0% and 5.8% of C. glabrata and C. albicans were inhibited in vitro at dilution 1:100; while none of the industrial soaps had in vitro candidastic potentials. In addition to whitening effect, topically-safe and minimally-diluted Clorox and JIK bleach can be used for personal hygiene by disinfection of contaminated inanimate objects, such as panties, undergarments and for toilet purposes to prevent infection / reinfection, in cases of vulvovaginal candidasis.
