Ten questions about bacterial vaginosis

• Published in: Gynécologie, obstétrique, fertilité & sénologie Vol. 48; no. 9; pp. 693 - 702
• Main Authors: Bohbot, J-M, Brami, G, Goubard, A, Harvey, T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: France 01.09.2020
• Subjects: Bacterial vaginosis; Probiotics; Probiotiques; Dysbiose vaginale; Vaginose bactérienne; Vaginal dysbiosis
• ISSN: 2468-7189
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gofs.2020.05.003

The physiopathology of bacterial vaginosis (BV), the ultimate stage of vaginal dysbiosis, has benefited from recent advances in molecular biology, highlighting, among others, the important role of A. vaginae. Certain immunological specificities (variants of TLR4, elevation of IL-1β, for example) explain the variations in the prevalence of this infection, the poor clinical and cellular inflammatory response and the promoting influence of BV on the acquisition and progression of some sexually transmitted infections. These advances do not fully elucidate the causes of the high rate of recurrences. Some risk factors for relapses of BV have been identified such as tobacco use, stress or hygienic errors have been associated to relapses of BV. However, other paths are beginning to be explored such as the role of sexual transmission, the resistance of certain bacteria associated to BV to nitroimidazoles or the lack of efficacy of conventional treatments on dysbiosis itself. Taking into acount this vaginal dysbiosis appears to be important or even essential to better control the natural history of HPV-hr infection or improve the success rate of IVF, for example. Despite heterogeneous results, the use of probiotics as a complement to conventional treatments (nitroimidazoles, dequalinium chloride) has demonstrated a preventive effect on BV recurrences. Further studies are needed to customize the contribution of probiotics (or synbiotics) according to the individual specificities of the vaginal microbiome.