Bacterial vaginosis, often referred to as BV, is a very common condition that can affect women of any age. The symptoms of BV can cause some women considerable distress. Symptoms include an unusual vaginal discharge and odor . Other symptoms may include vaginal itching and irritation. But what exactly is BV, and how is it treated.
What is bacterial vaginosis?
Bacterial vaginosis is a vaginal infection that is associated by an imbalance in the bacteria that constitute normal flora in the vagina. The microflora of the vagina is made up of many different bacteria, but when the vagina is healthy the good bacteria known as lactobacilli dominates.
BV develops when there is a shift towards anaerobic bacteria in the vagina, which leads to an overgrowth of odor producing bacteria. It is diagnosed on gram stain of a sample taken from the vagina or more commonly on clinical evaluation by wet preparations. The diagnosis is defined by meeting 3 of 5 Amsels Criteria: 1) vaginal pH >5.0, 2) thin grey adherent vaginal discharge, 3) positive whiff test on allpication of 10% KOH spolution, 4) More than 20% of squamous cells are clue cells 5)…. AND additional vuvlvvaginal specialts add 6) the presence of no white blood cells in the vaginal secretions.
Unfortunately, most gynecologists either lack the training or the time to make this careful determination, so if there appears to be some abnormality in the secretions on wet prep with no yeast, the patient is often told they have BV. Hence, BV has beecome the trash bin diagnosis for vaginal symptoms over the past decade. The moral od this story is that if you are diagnosed with recurrent BV, it’s probably not BV but one of the other altered vaginal micro-flora patterns.
Treatment
If its truely BV, the symptoms should promptly respong to either clindamycin or metronizadole vaginal antibiotic treatment. If its not BV, you will experience a transient response for several weeks to a month, then the symptoms will recur. If this has been your experience, you need the expertice found at Fowler Gyn International (FGI) found on line at FowlerGynInternational.com. The etiology of these symptoms can invariably be traced to altered vaginal micro-flora patterns, and can be verified by doing a vaginal fluid analysis, VFA Test, available at FGI.
If you have been bothered by what your providers are calling recurrent BVrecurrent BV but have not been responding to traditional treatment options, contact FGI, Phoenix, AZ, for help. You can request a free pre-registration call online, or call (480) 420-4001.