Original articleEffect of long-term exposure of mice to 900Â MHz GSM radiation on experimental cutaneous candidiasis

Mobile phones communicate with base stations using 900 MHz microwaves. The current study was aimed to survey the effects of long-term 900 MHz microwave exposure of mice on experimentally induced cutaneous candidiasis. Forty inbred, male, BALB/c mice were randomly divided into four groups. Cutaneous lesions with Candida albicans were experimentally induced on the lateral-back skin of the 20 mice. One group of the diseased mice were exposed (6 h per day and 7 d per week) to 900 MHz microwave radiation, while the other groups were not exposed. Two unexposed control groups were also included. The skin lesions were regularly monitored and the live candida cell density was enumerated using the colony-forming unit (CFU) assay. The process was repeated after a one week resting interval. One week later, all mice were challenged through intra tail veins using LD90 dose of C. albicans. Mortality of the mice was recorded and the candida load of the kidney homogenates from died animals was counted. 900 MHz microwave exposed mice had 1.5 day and 3.7 day delays on wound healing in stages two. Live Candida inoculated Wave exposed (LCW) mice also showed higher yeast loads in skin lesions at days 5, 7 and 9 post inoculation. Survival analysis of live candida challenged mice showed the radiation exposed group is prone to death induced by systemic infection and candida enumeration from the kidney homogenates showed radiation exposed animals have had significantly higher yeast load in the tissue. In collection, long-term 900 MHz radiation exposure of mice led to longevity of skin wounds and susceptibility of the animals to systemic challenge and higher incidences of microorganisms in internal tissues.