Most women have yeast infection one time or another. Many have it chronically. It usually starts in the teen years and stops by the mid thirties. Yeast is a single-celled fungus.

Nearly 75 percent of all women will have at least one such infection in their lifetime (is this an epidemic?). Many are plagued by recurring yeast infections, which are most frequent between the ages of 16 and 35. Yeast is a term for single-celled fungi. The technical name for the variety of fungus often present in the human body is candida, and the technical name for infections caused by these fungi is candidiasis. Such infections occur not only in the vagina, but also in other parts of the body in both sexes.

A woman who has had one vaginal yeast infection can usually recognize its symptoms if it recurs. And a woman who has had several infections has no doubt about what's wrong when the next yeast infection starts. Another symptom is a thick, mostly odorless discharge. But this can be misleading because discharge in and of itself is not diagnostic. If you have a white discharge with an intense irritating itch, you may have an infection. Unfortunately, many women will, in response to increased estrogen at mid-cycle and the increased production of cervical mucus, develop a white, curdy discharge. That is not a yeast infection.

While not all women experience the following symptoms of a vaginal yeast infection, it's possible to have vaginal soreness or irritation, a rash on the vulva around the vagina, pain or discomfort during intercourse, abdominal pain, soreness of the vulva or vagina, burning during urination, and even vaginal bleeding in some cases in addition to itching and discharge.