1 Tufts University, School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111
2 231 East 31st Street, Paterson, New Jersey, 07504
Under the title of "Black Tongue Moniliasis,"1 a letter was published in the December 1970 issue of Pediatrics.
The author based his diagnosis in this 5-year-old Negro boy by culturing Candida albicans from the tongue. However, culture of this organism from the oral cavity is not sufficient to warrant a diagnosis of candidiasis. Cultures obtained from the oral cavities of a normal population have been positive for Candida in 20 to 50%.2 The laboratory criterion for establishing Canada as a pathogen rather than as a saprophyte in the oral cavity is the demonstration of the mycelial and yeast forms on a direct smear mounted in 10% potassium hydroxide and not by culture.3