Vaginal bacteria transplant may help women with recurrent vaginosis. Taking fluid from one lady’s bits and transplanting it into another lady’s bits has been associated with an improvement of bacterial vaginosis in four out of five women whose lady-flora had previously not responded to antibiotics, say international researchers. Bacterial vaginosis is a common condition in which there is a change in the natural balance of microbes in the vagina, and a subset of women with the condition can feel extreme discomfort, be more susceptible to STIs, or possibly could develop other issues down there.
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The transplantation of vaginal fluid containing healthy microbes is associated with the clinical improvement of bacterial vaginosis in four out of five women who had previously not responded to antibiotic treatment. The findings are reported in an exploratory study published in Nature Medicine.
Eran Elinav and colleagues selected five patients who had a history of recurrent bacterial vaginosis symptoms and had not responded to antibiotics to receive the vaginal microbiome transplant. The vaginal fluid donors went through a rigorous screening process to exclude the presence of potential infections and were counseled to abstain from sexual activity prior to the donation of vaginal fluid. After the transplant, the authors observed no adverse effects, and four of the five patients treated showed a marked improvement of symptoms 5- 21 months after transplantation; the fifth showed incomplete remission. The team also found that the vaginal microbiomes of the four patients who showed clinical improvement were enriched with Lactobacillus microbes. These microbes have been associated with a healthy vaginal microbiome environment in previous studies.
Although all patients in this small study benefited from the microbiome therapy to some extent, the authors conclude that randomized placebo-controlled trials are required to test the therapeutic efficacy of vaginal microbiome transplant.
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