Daily temporal dynamics of vaginal microbiota before, during and after episodes of bacterial vaginosis

Jacques Ravel,Roxana J Hickey,Pawel Gajer,Jane R Schwebke,Li Fu,Melissa Nandy,Rebecca M Brotman,Bing Ma,Douglas W Fadrosh,Joyce Sakamoto,Xia Zhou,Larry J Forney,Sara Sk Koenig

doi:10.1186/2049-2618-1-29

Abstract

BackgroundBacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common gynecologic diagnosis characterized by dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiota. It is often accompanied by vaginal symptoms such as odor and discharge, but can be asymptomatic. Despite over 50 years of research, the etiology of BV is not well understood, which is a major impediment to treatment and prevention of BV.ResultsHere we report on the temporal dynamics of 25 vaginal communities over a 10 week period using samples collected daily from women who were diagnosed with symptomatic BV (15 women), asymptomatic BV (6 women), and women who did not have BV (4 women).ConclusionThis unique resource of samples and data will contribute to a better understanding of the role that the vaginal microbes have in the natural history of BV and lead to improved diagnosis and treatment.

Highlights

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common gynecologic diagnosis characterized by dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiota
The etiology of BV is incompletely understood, it is well-documented that BV is accompanied by, and perhaps caused by, disruption of the vaginal ecosystem that is reflected in alterations to the composition and structure of vaginal microbial communities [4,5]
BV is often diagnosed based on the criteria described by Amsel et al [13], wherein three of the following four signs must be evident: (1) a homogeneous, white, noninflammatory discharge that smoothly coats the vaginal walls; (2) the presence of clue cells upon microscopic examination; (3) a vaginal fluid pH over 4.5; and (4) a fishy odor after addition of 10% KOH to vaginal secretion samples

Summary

Introduction

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common gynecologic diagnosis characterized by dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiota. Srinivasan et al followed women diagnosed with BV daily for 7 days, at 2, 3 and 4 weeks, and used quantitative PCR to determine the abundance of specific populations in vaginal samples [21]. We report our initial findings on the daily composition and relative abundance of bacteria in vaginal samples from 25 women, 15 of whom experienced symptomatic BV (SBV), 6 who were diagnosed with asymptomatic BV (ABV) and 4 who remained healthy during the 10-week study.

Results

Conclusion