The content of this podcast is provided for general informational purposes only and is not intended as,

nor should it be considered a substitute for professional medical advice.

You are listening to Ichi and Bichi, a podcast that provides answers to your many health questions.

I'm Karen Nicholl, Family Nurse Practitioner, and I'm going to talk to you today about bacterial vaginosis or BV.

Last night my husband and I were having dinner and he asked me,

so what are you going to talk about on your podcast this week?

And I said, hmm, I don't think you want to know while we're eating dinner.

So we skipped that little conversation, but I'm happy to have it with you today.

And part of the reason I wanted to talk to you about this today is there is a new study that is about to start,

that is designed by Carolyn Mitchell-MD.

She's the lead researcher in a study that is just beginning at Massachusetts General Hospital called Motif, M-O-T-I-F,

which is the acronym for Modifying Organisms Transvaginally in Females.

This study is all about bacterial vaginosis or BV.

So I thought I'd tell you about the study and remind everyone what BV is, why do we get it,

and what problems it can cause and how to treat it.

After that, I'll give you more details about the Motif study.

The lack of effective treatment is the rationale for this upcoming clinical trial.

The antibiotics, either oral or vaginal that are used to treat BV, are effective about 60% of the time.

So up to 50% of women who are hoping to get rid of this problem with traditional treatment end up with recurrent BV.

A third of American women have this condition, but providers do not know why some women get recurrent BV, or how to fix it.

There hasn't even been a fundamentally new treatment or prevention strategy in decades, decades.

It is truly a sad commentary on women's health care in this country.

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