Anaerobes and Bacterial Vaginosis in Pregnancy: Virulence Factors Contributing to Vaginal Colonisation

Charlene W. J. Africa, Janske Nel and Megan Stemmet
Additional contact information
Charlene W. J. Africa: Department of Medical Biosciences, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, Cape Town, South Africa
Janske Nel: Department of Medical Biosciences, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, Cape Town, South Africa
Megan Stemmet: Department of Medical Biosciences, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, Cape Town, South Africa

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-22

Abstract: The aetiology and pathogenesis of bacterial vaginosis (BV) is unclear but it appears to be associated with factors that disrupt the normal acidity of the vagina thus altering the equilibrium between the normal vaginal microbiota. BV has serious implications for female morbidity, including reports of pelvic inflammatory disease, adverse pregnancy outcomes, increased susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections and infertility. This paper reviewed new available information regarding possible factors contributing to the establishment of the BV vaginal biofilm, examined the proposed role of anaerobic microbial species recently detected by new culture-independent methods and discusses developments related to the effects of BV on human pregnancy. The literature search included Pubmed (NLM), LISTA (EBSCO), and Web of Science. Because of the complexity and diversity of population groups, diagnosis and methodology used, no meta-analysis was performed. Several anaerobic microbial species previously missed in the laboratory diagnosis of BV have been revealed while taking cognisance of newly proposed theories of infection, thereby improving our understanding and knowledge of the complex aetiology and pathogenesis of BV and its perceived role in adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Keywords: pregnancy outcomes; bacterial vaginosis; female morbidity; microbial ecology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/7/6979/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/7/6979/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:11:y:2014:i:7:p:6979-7000:d:38021

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().