A common but potentially dangerous vaginal infection that affects almost one in three women in the world should be considered sexually transmitted, says a new study. Bacterial vaginosis, or BV, is currently seen as a female problem, leaving the sexual partner without treatment.
“I started to have it quite often. I went to the doctor and was treated with antibiotics, and almost always came back, ”said Hanae, a woman who participated in the BV clinical trial held in Melbourne, Australia. “It’s like it’s not worth it for me or going to the doctor.”
To half of women with bacterial vaginosis, the infection returns after the completion of a week of antibiotics the favorite medical treatment for BV, according to the main author of the study, Lenka Vodstrcil, senior researcher at Melbourne Sexual Health Center at Monash University in Australia.
“The bacteria that causes BV may be located in men, especially in the skin of the penis and also on the urethra,” Vodstriccil said in a press release. “This suggests that BV is probably sexually transmitted, which is why so many women have it again after treatment . ”
When BV was treated as a sexually transmitted infection, with both partners receiving oral antibiotics and men using topical creams, the recurrence rate fell by more than half, according to the study published last Wednesday (5) in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“Our study showed that partners’ reinfection is causing many of the recurrences of BV that women experience, and provides evidence that BV is, in fact, an IST [infecção sexualmente transmissível]”Said senior author Catriona Bradshaw in an email. Bradshaw is a teacher at the HEALTH CENTER Sexual Melbourne at Monash University.
A potentially dangerous infection
VB symptoms may include itching, pain when urinating, a strange odor and a thin and white vaginal discharge. For some women, however, VB is a silent predator, attacking without these revealing symptoms.
If not treated, bacterial vaginosis can increase the risk of purchasing HIV as well as sexually transmitted infections, according to the World Health Organization.
Women with VB may also develop an infection in fallopian, ovaries or uterus, called pelvic inflammatory disease, says WHO on its website. These infections can lead to later infertility, experts say.
“We see very significant changes in a series of inflammatory markers, inflammatory cells and enzymes and bacterial products that result in damage to the epithelium – the reproductive tract coating,” said Bradshaw.
Bacterial vaginosis is especially dangerous during pregnancy. The infection can lead to premature birth, miscarriage and low birth weight in the baby, according to WHO.
It is time for a “paradigm shift” in treatment
The randomized clinical trial of 164 monogamous couples was conducted in several centers in Australia. In 81 of the couples, both partners were treated with seven days of oral antibiotics. During this time, the male partner also used an antibiotic on the penis twice a day. According to the recommended treatment today, only the woman in the other 83 couples was treated with an oral antibiotic.
Although the study has treated only heterosexual couples, it is “important to note that women in same -sex relationships also transmit BV bacteria with each other during sex, and that these same -sex couples in monogamous relationships have very high agreement rates for BV – both have or both do not have,” said Bradshaw.
The rehearsal should last 12 weeks, but researchers interrupted it early when it was quickly apparent that treating both partners reduced BV to 60%.
Facing a vaginal infection as common as a sexually transmitted infection would be a “paradigm change” And it would require doctors to encourage a woman’s male partner to share responsibility for transmission and treatment, according to an editorial published along with the study.
“It will also require a willingness from male partners to commit to taking medications, once notified by her partner that she has bacterial vaginosis and is probably sexually transmitted,” wrote Dr. Christina Muzny and Dr. Jack Sobel, who were not involved in the new research.
Men in the study had no problem completing the antibiotic course, with few or no side effects, discovered the study.
“We have already used this medicine in almost 300 men and we had no report that the side effects of the drug would keep them from taking it,” Bradshaw said.
Sexual Melbourne Health Center has already changed its protocols and is now treating both partners when BV is detected, Bradshaw added.
For health professionals and couples interested in treating both partners, the research team is developing a website that provides detailed information about the treatment of the male partner.
“Changes in national and international treatment guidelines always take time, so we feel the obligation to provide accurate online and download information,” said Bradshaw.
See forms of prevention against sexually transmitted infections
This content was originally published in study points out that common vaginal infection is sexually transmitted on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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