BACTERIAL MORPHOTYPES OF BACTERIAL VAGINOSIS

Abstract

Bacterial vaginosis is a disorder in the composition of the vaginal flora that leads to a decrease in the number of hydrogen peroxide-producing lactobacilli and a predominance of various anaerobic bacteria. A retrospective cohort study, performed on a series of 192 patients aged 20 to 59 years, divided into two groups: examined and control. The study group included 128 sexually active women with a Pap smear that showed the presence of a squamous intraepithelial lesion or squamous invasive cervical cancer. The control group included 64 sexually active women with a normal PAP smear. All women have a Nugent score system. The most common bacterial morphotype of bacterial vaginosis in women in the study group was Gardnerella vaginalis (96.43%; 54/56), followed by descending order: Bacteroides species (69.64%; 39/56), Mobiluncus species (51,78%; 29/56), Prevotella species (50.00; 28/56) and Lactobacillus species (19.64%; 11/56). The most common bacterial morphotype detected in patients with normal cervical cytology was Lactobacillus species (96.87%; 62/64), followed by descending order: Gardnerella vaginalis (28.12%; 18/64), Bacteroides species (23.44%; 15/64) and Mobiluncus species and Prevotella species (with 9.37% each; 6/64). Bacterial vaginosis was detected in 43.75% of patients with squamous cell abnormalities of the cervix and in 12.50% of patients with normal cervical cytology. Data analysis showed: correlation between the presence of bacterial vaginosis and the occurrence of squamous cell abnormalities of the cervix (chi-square test = 4.19, p <0.05); increase in the presence of bacterial vaginosis in parallel with an increase in the cytopathological degree of cervical lesion (chi-square test = 12.19, p˂0.05) and that bacterial vaginosis was most common in patients under 30 years of age (57, 14%; 16/28). Our study showed that Gardnerella vaginalis is the most common bacterial morphotype of bacterial vaginosis.