Bacterial Vaginosis Treatment

Overview

It is an abnormal condition of the vagina that is characterized by vagina discharge. It is caused by the excessive development of atypical bacteria in the vagina. It is an imbalance of the bacteria present in the vagina.

Bacterial Vaginosis is not lethal rather it can cause some serious symptoms. Most women do not inherit any symptoms of bacterial Vaginosis but when it occurs, the symptoms include:

• Vaginal discharge
• Bad odor
• Rare pain

For diagnosing bacteria vaginosis, it is crucial to eliminate some severe infections that occur in the vagina including Sexually Transmitted Diseases such as Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and Chlamydia.

Treatment for bacterial Vaginosis may include oral antibiotics prescribed by doctors and vagina ointments. Metronidazole is one of the medicine to treat Bacterial Vaginosis.

The severity of bacterial Vaginosis can lead to serious complications during pregnancy, and even the recurrence of infection may possible after the successful treatment.

What exactly is Bacterial Vaginosis?

Bacterial Vaginosis is also referred to as vaginitis (non-specific). Vaginitis is a condition of the vagina that produces a vaginal discharge that is resulted from the excessive growth of a defined type of bacteria in the vaginal area. Earlier this condition was referred to as Gardnerella vaginitis because it was thought this pathogen is causing the infection. However, the recent name Bacterial Vaginosis indicates the fact that several species of bacteria naturally inhabit the vaginal region and may grow excessively resulting in the infection. Hence, it is caused due to excessive development of specific bacteria rather than any true infection caused by foreign bacteria like that occur in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)

It is not a single organism i.e. Garderella that is causing the bacterial Vaginosis rather there are various other types of bacteria like Lactobacillus, Peptostreptococcus, Bacteriodes, Fusobacterium, Eubacterium, and many other bacterial strains. When an imbalance occurs with these many species of bacteria that normally live in the vagina, a woman can experience a vaginal discharge with a bad odor.

What are the signs of Bacterial Vaginosis?

A large population of women with bacterial vaginosis doesn't show any signs or symptoms. But when it does, the most common symptoms could be:

• Abnormal amount of vaginal discharge
• The vaginal discharge is of whitish greyish and thin in texture.
• Foul odor or vaginal odor
• The vaginal discharge and vaginal odor are more often after sexual intercourse
• Sometimes pain occurs during sexual intercourse or urination.

These symptoms can occur any time in the menstrual cycle during, before, or after the menstruation. Thus, any amount of vaginal discharge that seems abnormal to a woman needs to be consulted.

What are the causes of Bacterial Vaginosis?

Scientists have had complications inferring exactly the cause of bacterial vaginosis. Now, they have seemed to investigate the cause by determining the combination of several bacteria present in the area that develop bacterial vaginosis. They are usually characterized by the reduction in the number of normal lactobacilli bacteria that produce hydrogen peroxide in the vagina. Consequently, there's an increase in the amount of other bacterial types, particularly anaerobic bacteria (that grow in oxygen-deprived regions). As a result, the testing and treatment of the disease are not as easy as the identification and collection of a single type of bacteria. It is still unknown the clustering of different bacteria in that region which results in imbalance and subsequently infection.

Some positive risk factors have been observed to increase the possibility of developing bacterial vaginosis. These factors may include:

• Frequent sexual intercourse with multiple or new partners
• Consumption of Intrauterine devices IUDs for birth control measures
• Recent use of antibiotics
• Vaginal touching
• Addiction to cigarette smoking

But, the involvement of sexual activity in the development of disease is still unclear. Although many scientists claim that bacterial vaginosis does not occur in women who have not experienced sexual intercourse while some believe that it does not matter whether you have had sex or not, if there's an imbalance of concentration if bacteria in your vagina, there may be high chances of getting bacterial vaginosis.

Can we categorize Bacterial vaginosis in either yeast infection or STD?

Bacterial vaginosis highly differ from any sexually transmitted disease or yeast infection. Although bacterial vaginosis is not lethal it can lead to some serious disturbing symptoms.

Sometimes symptoms may also appear like those found with yeast infections of the bag in and trichomoniasis.

Is bacterial vaginosis (BV) transmittable from a sexual partner?

The word vaginosis means abnormality in the vagina therefore this infection does not occur in men. But females with bacterial vaginosis having sexual intercourse with another female partner must consider being evaluated because it can spread to female partners.

Is bacterial vaginosis infectious?

However, bacterial Vaginosis is not estimated to be a contagious condition,

Although bacterial vaginosis is not considered to be a contagious condition, the role of transmissibility of bacteria among individuals is not fully understood. Since having multiple or new sexual partners increases a woman's risk of developing bacterial vaginosis, this suggests that the spread of bacteria among individuals may alter the balance of bacteria in the vagina and potentially predispose to the development of bacterial vaginosis. However, since bacterial vaginosis also occurs in celibate women, other causative factors must also play a role in its development.

What is the treatment for bacterial Vaginosis?

1. Metronidazole

Metronidazole is an antibiotic that is found to be one of the best medications for bacterial Vaginosis. It is available in the form of a pill or gel.

The doses of metronidazole are recommended by the center for disease control and prevention trusted source.

If you are taking the pill, take 500 milligrams orally each day for seven days.

If you have bacterial Vaginosis and if it keeps coming back again and again, your medical consultant may prescribe 500 mg of medication taken orally for 10 to 14 days.

Another option is to apply the vaginal gel for 10 days followed by twice per week for 3-6 months.

2. Clindamycin

Another effective medication treatment for Bacterial Vaginosis is Clindamycin. Clindamycin is an antibiotic that is available in the form of a cream, pill, or ovule suppository. The ovule suppository is a capsule that's inserted inside the vagina.

As per the CDC report, the recommended doses for Clindamycin include.

If you are taking the pill, the recommended dose says 300 milligrams that have to be taken orally twice per day for seven days.

If you are using cream, 5 gm of cream have to inserted inside the vagina at night for seven days

The ovule suppository has taken 100 milligrams inserted into the vagina for three days

Clindamycin cream and suppository contain essential oils which may reduce the products like condoms and diaphragms. The effect of oil can stay for 72 hours for ovules and the cream stays for 5 days.

3. Tinidazole

Sometimes, Metronidazole and clindamycin may develop negative side effects. In that case, the use of tinidazole is highly prescribed by doctors.

It is an antibiotic that is available in the form of a pill. It is recommended as two sides.

The doses are prescribed as 2 grams of tinidazole consume orally daily for two days and one gram of tinidazole daily for five days.

4. Secnidazole

next option could be secnidazole. It is also an antibiotic that you can take in one dose. It is available in the form of granules that can be taken orally. The approved dose for secnidazole is to consume 2 grams once per day. The granules can be mixed with yogurt or tasteless apple sauce.

The medication has proved to be more expensive than any other treatment. However, it may be a good choice if you like single-dose prescription.

5. Probiotics

They are positive bacteria as they don't cause any harm to your body. Consumption of probiotic supplements may help your body by introducing healthy bacteria. Probiotics can be taken as pill or in liquid form.

A review from 2014, stated the benefits of probiotics on bacterial vaginosis as there was evidence that shows the prevention of bacterial vaginosis by probiotics if taken on daily basis.

If are suffering from bacterial vaginosis, the application of probiotics daily may help to treat and prevent the reoccurrence of BV in the vagina.

If you have been given antibiotics to treat BV, it is indicated that antibiotics are used to kill bacteria that are good and bad. So, the good bacteria which are healthy for the body can be killed by the use of antibiotics. For that, probiotic supplements and yogurt may be helpful to replace the good bacteria that got killed by the antibiotics.

Probiotics are available in pharmacies, food stores, supplement stores, or online forums where you can purchase these supplements.

6. Garlic

Garlic possesses strong antibacterial properties and proved to be the best home remedy for bacterial vaginosis.

For the treatment, you have to consume garlic orally daily. Avoid inserting into the vagina as it can cause a burning sensation to vaginal tissue.

A review from 2014, focused on the use of garlic tablets and metronidazole for treating this condition. Several studies have shown that garlic tablets or supplements can treat bacterial vaginosis.

7. Boric acid

Boric acid is also known to treat bacterial vaginosis. Boric acid is not edible as it is toxic to the body. This, store it away from you. Children reach and it is not also safe for pregnant women. Although, it is safe to use in the vagina.