Studies on Bacterial Vaginosis
Antimicrobial and immune modulatory effects of lactic acid and short chain fatty acids produced by vaginal microbiota associated with eubiosis and bacterial vaginosis
Muriel Aldunate, Daniela Srbinovski, Anna C Hearps, Catherine F. Latham, Paul A. Ramsland, Raffi
Gugasyan, Richard A. Cone, and Gilda Tachedjian. Frontiers in Physiology (2015)
Lactic acid, produced by lactobacilli, promote a healthy vaginal environment, while acetate, propionate, butyrate, and succinate, produced by pathogenic bacteria, promote inflammatory responses and unhealthy vaginal tissue.
Successful treatment of bacterial vaginosis with a policarbophil-carbopol acidic vaginal gel: results from a randomised double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Angelo Fiorilli, Bruno Molteni, and Massimo Milani. European Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and
Reproductive Biology (2005)
This clinical study shows that using a vaginal gel to reduce vaginal pH clinically cures bacterial vaginosis in 93% of women by 6 weeks vs. only 6% in placebo-treated controls; 86% remained cured at 12 weeks.
Probiotics for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis.
Abiola C Senok, Hans Verstraelen, Marleen Temmerman, Giuseppe A Botta. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2009)
This review written in 2009 examined four randomized controlled trials of the effects of probiotics on bacterial vaginosis, and found that, while results were promising, more research needed to be done with larger sample sizes before clinicians can be confident in the ability of probiotics to help treat or prevent bacterial vaginosis.
Effectiveness of vaginal tablets containing lactobacilli versus pH tablets on vaginal health and inflammatory cytokines: a randomized, double-blind study.
R Hemalatha, P Mastromarino, BA Ramalaxmi, NV Balakrishna, B Sesikeran. European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (2012)
This study showed that a vaginal probiotic tablet was able to cure BV in 80% of participants; while it did not directly compare this treatment with antibiotics, this is a similar cure rate to that previously reported for metronidazole.