Bacterial vaginosis - a microbiological and immunological enigma

• Published in: APMIS : acta pathologica, microbiologica et immunologica Scandinavica Vol. 113; no. 2; pp. 81 - 90
• Main Authors: FORSUM, U., HOLST, E., LARSSON, P. G., VASQUEZ, A., JAKOBSSON, T., MATTSBY-BALTZER, I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Munksgaard International Publishers 01-02-2005; Blackwell
• Subjects: Anaerobic; Animals; Bacteria; Bacteria, Anaerobic - immunology; Bacterial; Bacterial vaginosis; Basic Medicine; Biological and medical sciences; ecology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; immune response; immunology; Infectious diseases; lactobacilli; Lactobacillus; Lactobacillus - immunology; MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES; Medical sciences; MEDICIN; MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP; MEDICINE; Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper; Microbiology; Microbiology in the medical area; Mikrobiologi inom det medicinska området; Nugent scoring; taxonomy; Vaginosis; Vaginosis, Bacterial - immunology; Vaginosis, Bacterial - microbiology; Infection; Bacterial vaginosis; ecology; Immunology; Microbiology; immune response; Nugent scoring; Bacteriosis; Vaginal diseases; lactobacilli; taxonomy; Female genital diseases
• ISSN: 0903-4641; 1600-0463; 1600-0463
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0463.2005.apm1130201.x

The development of bacterial vaginosis (BV) among women of childbearing age and the resulting quantitative and qualitative shift from normally occurring lactobacilli in the vagina to a mixture of mainly anaerobic bacteria is a microbiological and immunological enigma that so far has precluded the formulation of a unifying generally accepted theory on the aetiology and clinical course of BV. This critical review highlights some of the more important aspects of BV research that could help in formulating new basic ideas respecting the biology of BV, not least the importance of the interleukin mediators of local inflammatory responses and the bacterial shift from the normally occurring lactobacilli species: L. crispatus, L. gasseri, L. jensenii, and L. iners to a mixed flora dominated by anaerobic bacteria.