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Bacterial vaginosis – a microbiological and immunological enigma
Author(s) -
FORSUM U.,
HOLST E.,
LARSSON P. G.,
VASQUEZ A.,
JAKOBSSON T.,
MATTSBYBALTZER I.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
apmis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0903-4641
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0463.2005.apm1130201.x
Subject(s) - bacterial vaginosis , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , vaginal flora , flora (microbiology) , anaerobic bacteria , bacteria , immunology , genetics
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.