Vaginal Microbiome Transplantation (VMT) shows promises against Bacterial Vaginosis.

What is Bacterial vaginosis?

Normally, Lactobacillus species dominated the microbiome community of human Vagina. Bacterial vaginosis is a vaginal inflammation. It occurs when there is disbalance in the bacterial community i.e. when anaerobes dominate the microbiome instead of Lactobacillus species.

Symptoms of BV:

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is prevalent in women of reproductive age affecting from one-fourth to one-third of women. BV may be associated with the risk of upper genital tract infection, complications of pregnancy and susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections (STDs).

The study:

In this study, five patients suffering from Bacterial vaginosis were recruited. A healthy vaginal fluid for transplantation was collected from the donors. They were then transferred to the patients suffering from BV. All the patients were monitored regularly. Four out of five patients showed long-lasting improvements. The fifth patient showed partial improvements.

What's Next?

This is an initial study which needs further trials. In the future, VMT could be used as a choice of treatment for Bacterial vaginosis.

References:

1. Vaginal microbiome transplantation in women with intractable bacterial vaginosis. Nature Medicine 25, 1500–1504(2019).

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