#7 Common Yeast Infection Causes
Yeast infections are not fun. In fact, if you've ever had one, you can attest to how straight-up miserable they are. The itchy, irritating infection happens when there's an overgrowth of Candida albicans , a naturally occurring yeast in the vagina. Sadly, most women will have a yeast infection at some point in their lives (many will have more than one). That's because the vagina's ecosystem is delicate, and anything that affects the balance of bacteria, which keeps yeast levels in check, can allow the fungus to take over. You're probably not going to avoid a yeast infection forever, but here are the top seven things that cause them and what you can do to limit your chances of getting one. 1. Antibiotics Antibiotics kill bacteria, but unfortunately, you can't choose with 100 percent accuracy which bacteria they target in the body. "There's 15 to 20 different types of bacteria in the vagina," Michael Cackovic, M.D., an ob/gyn at...