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A vaginal yeast infection can feel uncomfortable. You get a discharge from your vagina that is usually thick and white (like cottage cheese). You'll probably feel itchy and sore, and the area outside your vagina will probably be infected, too.

In most women, vaginal yeast infections are caused by a type of yeast known as Candida albicans.^{1 2} Yeast is a type of fungus. Candida is usually harmless and lives naturally in your body. You can have this yeast in your vagina without getting any symptoms.

But sometimes too much of this yeast can grow. This makes your vagina inflamed and causes an infection. The vagina is the most common part of the body for Candida infection. Candida likes warm, moist, airless conditions best. So wearing loose, cotton underclothes and stockings rather than pantyhose may help prevent yeast infections, although there hasn't been research on this.

You can also get a yeast infection on other areas of the body, such as your groin and inside your mouth. Babies can get a yeast infection in their diaper area.

Your vagina also contains mucus and "friendly" bacteria that help keep a healthy balance and protect you from infections like Candida. But some things can upset these natural defenses and make you more likely to get a yeast infection. You are more likely to get yeast infections if:^{3 4 5}

• You are pregnant. Pregnancy changes your hormone levels, and this can make you more likely to get yeast infections
• You have diabetes
• You take antibiotics for another infection. Antibiotics are medicines that kill bacteria. Sometimes they kill off the "friendly" bacteria that help prevent yeast infections
• Your immune system has been affected by illness or by other medicines you are taking. This isn't a common cause of yeast infections. Your immune system normally protects you against infection
• You become sexually active.

We don't really know if your chance of having a yeast infection increases if you use certain types of contraceptives, such as the birth control pill or coil (intrauterine device, IUD), or a diaphragm with spermicide. Different studies say different things.^{1 2} You might want to ask your doctor about trying a different contraceptive if your yeast infection keeps returning. But you shouldn't stop taking the birth control pill if you get a vaginal yeast infection.

Doctors call vaginal yeast infections vulvovaginal candidiasis. Some women find their yeast infection keeps coming back. If you get yeast infections four or more times a year, doctors call this recurrent candidiasis.

We know that your risk of getting a vaginal yeast infection goes up around the time you start having sex. Even so, there's no clear evidence that this infection is passed between partners during sex.^{1 2} Doctors don't consider it a sexually transmitted infection.

A few men get symptoms such as a rash on their penis and itchiness after sex with a woman who has symptoms of a yeast infection. Doctors call this balanitis. If your partner gets this, he should seek treatment.

In the vast majority of women, yeast infections are not serious. But a yeast infection that doesn't go away even with treatment, or keeps coming back, may be an early sign of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection. People with HIV or AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) may also get this infection in the mouth, on the skin and in other areas.

Yeast infections may also be an early sign for diabetes or cancer.

Sometimes this infection can be caused by other types of Candida yeast, but this is far less common.⁶