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SATURDAY, July 12, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- Summer can bring more than warm breezes and lazy days at the beach.
Unfortunately, the season also brings an increased number of yeast infections, caused when a type of fungus that normally lives in and around the vagina overgrows.
"Yeast likes warm, wet environments, and that's going to increase in the summer," explains Dr. Ralph Dauterive, head of obstetrics and gynecology at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans.
Summer also means more vulvitis, an external skin irritation that can occur as a result of wearing wet clothes or because of irritation from leftover detergent on clothes. Vulvitis has no discharge like yeast infections, but it has many of the same symptoms -- itchiness, discomfort -- and also thrives on heat and moisture.
The good news is that both conditions can be prevented with many of the same precautions. Listen to this advice:
More information
Check out Medline to learn about the condition.