title: Associations between vaginal pathogenic community and bacterial vaginosis in Chinese reproductive-age women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is one of the most common urogenital infections among women of reproductive age that represents shifts in microbiota from Lactobacillus spp. to diverse anaerobes. The aim of our study was to evalute the diagnostic values of Gardnerella, Atopobium, Eggerthella, Megasphaera typeI, Leptotrichia/Sneathia and Prevotella, defined as a vaginal pathogenic community for BV and their associations with vaginal pH and Nugent scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We investigated the vaginal pathogenic bacteria and Lactobacillus spp. with species-specific real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) in 50 BV-positive and 50 BV-negative Chinese women of reproductive age. Relative to BV-negative subjects, a siginificant decline in Lactobacillus and an obvious increase in bacteria in the vaginal pathogenic community were observed in BV-postive subjects (P<0.05). With the exception of Megasphaera typeI, other vaginal pathogenic bacteria were highly predictable for BV with a better sensitivity and specificity. The vaginal pathogenic community was positively associated with vaginal pH and Nugent scores, while Lactobacillus spp., such as L. iners and L. crispatus was negatively associated with them (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data implied that the prevalance of vaginal pathogenic bacteria as well as the depletion of Lactobacillus was highly accurate for BV diagnosis. Vaginal microbiota shifts, especially the overgrowth of the vaginal pathogenic community, showed well diagnostic values in predicting BV. Postive correlations between those vaginal pathogenic bacteria and vaginal pH, Nugent score indicated the vaginal pathogenic community rather than a single vaginal microorganism, was participated in the onset of BV directly.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China ; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Zongxin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yueqiu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Xiaoxing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Xiaojuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Lanjuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Charlie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xiang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics; D058491:Bacterial Load; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D014621:Vagina / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D016585:Vaginosis, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D055815:Young Adult