An Australian study found that bacterial vaginosis (BV) may in fact, be sexually transmitted. Currently, the NHS claims that BV is not an STI and is due to ‘a change in the natural balance of bacteria in your vagina,’ and that the causes are currently ‘not fully known.’ However, a new study ‘Male-Partner Treatment to Prevent Recurrence of Bacterial Vaginosis’ in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) found that handling BV as an STI by treating both the patient and their sexual partners reduced the recurrence of the infection, in comparison to regular treatment:
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‘The addition of combined oral and topical antimicrobial therapy for male partners to treatment of women for bacterial vaginosis resulted in a lower rate of recurrence of bacterial vaginosis within 12 weeks than standard care,’ Vodstrcil et al, wrote.
The recurrence of BV was almost halved when treated as an STI. The study initially observed 164 monogamous couples split between a control group, and a group where both couples received antimicrobial treatment. In the couples where both partners were treated, BV recurrence had nearly halved in comparison to the control group, where only the woman received treatment. The researchers therefore halted the experiment early once it became evident that the control group yielded ‘inferior’ results.
‘The trial was stopped by the data and safety monitoring board after 150 couples had completed the 12-week follow-up period because treatment of the woman only was inferior to treatment of both the woman and her male partner,’ the study found. ‘Recurrence occurred in 24 of 69 women (35%) in the partner-treatment group […] and in 43 of 68 women (63%) in the control group.’