Abstract A description is provided for Candida kefyr . Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. DISEASE: Candida kefyr is an uncommon cause of superficial and systemic candidosis in humans and animals. In a compilation of 318 cases of septicaemia attributable to species of Candida , Odds (1979) includes only one in which C. kefyr was implicated. Hurley lists 3 out of 32 cases of disseminated candidosis due to Candida kefyr (in Winner & Hurley (eds), Symposium on Candida Infections , pp. 13-25, London: Livingstone, 1966). Meunier-Carpenter lists 1 from 110 isolates from blood cultures from cancer patients ( Am. J. Med . 71: 363-370, 1981) and Kures et al. found 1 from 141 yeast positive blood cultures ( Bull. Soc. Fr. Myc. Med . 8: 153-155, 1979). It has been reported regularly but not frequently from patients with vaginitis and urinary tract infections and has also been isolated from sputum, gastric ulcers and ear infections. Several experiments with laboratory animals have been carried out to determine the pathogenicity of Candida kefyr with varying results. Hurley & Winner found that mice inoculated intravenously with suspensions of C. kefyr died producing lesions similar to those when injected with C. albicans (Mycopathologia 24: 337-346, 1964). More recent work by Kennedy et al. showed that Candida kefyr will colonize the gut and infect visceral organs of antibiotic treated mice but not untreated mice ( Sabouraudia 21: 27-33, 1983). Other workers have induced mastitis in cows by inoculation with C. kefyr . Klotz et al. studied the adherence of various members of the genus to porcine blood vessels in vitro and found C. kefyr to adhere much less strongly than C. albicans or C. tropicalis (Inf. & Imm . 42: 374-378, 1983). GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Africa (Algeria, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Uganda); Asia (Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, India, Japan, Nepal, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam); Australasia and Oceania (Tahiti); Europe (many countries); North America (Canada, Mexico); South America (Brazil, Venezuela).