Abstract: Objective To compare the genotypes of Candida strains isolated from patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis before and after relapse. Methods Candida strains were isolated from 25 patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis before and after relapse, and identified with germ tube formation tests, CHROMagar Candida and API20C system. Candida isolates were genotyped by random amplified polymorphic （RAPD） with 9 primers. Results Two Candida strains were isolated from each of the patients; however, in one patient, three strains were isolated. A total of 51 Candida strains were isolated from these patients. Forty- seven strains were identified as C. albicans and 4 as C.glabrata . C. albicans was replaced by C. glabrata in 4 cases after the relapse of vulvovaginal candidiasis. The RAPD profiles of Candida were identical before and after the relapse in 66.7% of the patients as assessed with primer 4, and in 58.3% with primer 7. Conclusions This study shows that more than half of the relapse of vulvovaginal candidiasis is caused by the same type of Candida, and only a small part by different types of Candida.