title: The Human Microbiome during Bacterial Vaginosis.
abstract: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most commonly reported microbiological syndrome among women of childbearing age. BV is characterized by a shift in the vaginal flora from the dominant Lactobacillus to a polymicrobial flora. BV has been associated with a wide array of health issues, including preterm births, pelvic inflammatory disease, increased susceptibility to HIV infection, and other chronic health problems. A number of potential microbial pathogens, singly and in combinations, have been implicated in the disease process. The list of possible agents continues to expand and includes members of a number of genera, including Gardnerella, Atopobium, Prevotella, Peptostreptococcus, Mobiluncus, Sneathia, Leptotrichia, Mycoplasma, and BV-associated bacterium 1 (BVAB1) to BVAB3. Efforts to characterize BV using epidemiological, microscopic, microbiological culture, and sequenced-based methods have all failed to reveal an etiology that can be consistently documented in all women with BV. A careful analysis of the available data suggests that what we term BV is, in fact, a set of common clinical signs and symptoms that can be provoked by a plethora of bacterial species with proinflammatory characteristics, coupled to an immune response driven by variability in host immune function.
authors: Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA aonderdonk@partners.org.
authors: Andrew B
authors: AB
authors: Onderdonk
authors: Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors: Mary L
authors: ML
authors: Delaney
authors: Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors: Raina N
authors: RN
authors: Fichorova
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D064307:Microbiota; D016585:Vaginosis, Bacterial / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial