Treating Bacterial Vaginosis as an STI Could Improve Outcomes

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

Bacterial vaginosis (BV), an overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria in the vagina, affects nearly one in three people with a vagina. While you can get BV without ever having sex, a new study has found that, in some cases, it could be functioning more like a sexually transmitted infection. That’s in part because of the increased risk of BV after sex with a new partner and a high recurrence of BV symptoms after treatment.The study examined women with BV who were in a monogamous relationship with a male partner and found that treating both people was significantly more effective than treating the woman alone. Host Rachel Feltman speaks with study co-authors Lenka Vodstrcil, a senior research fellow at Melbourne Sexual Health Center at Monash University in Australia, and Catriona Bradshaw, a professor of sexual health medicine at Monash University and Australia’s Alfred Hospital. Recommended reading: Read the study Resources for patients and health professionals E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:36.8	For Scientific American Science quickly, I'm Rachel Feldman.
0:44.4	Research suggests that anywhere from roughly a quarter to more than a third of people
0:51.7	with a vagina will contract bacterial vaginosis or
0:54.9	BV at least once in their lifetimes. It involves an imbalance in the microbes that grow in
1:00.3	the vagina, with pathogenic strains beating out healthier bacteria. It's not usually a serious
1:06.2	condition, but it can put people at higher risk for contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
1:13.3	Now, some researchers are arguing that BV itself should be treated like an STI.
1:18.4	Those researchers are my guest today.
1:21.0	Linka Vostrachil is a senior research fellow at Monash University's Melbourne Sexual Health Center.
1:27.0	Katrina Bradshaw is a professor of sexual health medicine at Monash University and Alfred Hospital.
1:32.3	Before we dive into our conversation, it's important to note that while we'll be discussing treating BV as an STI,
1:38.3	people can be diagnosed with BV even if they've never had sex.
1:42.3	It's an imbalance of vaginal bacteria, and one we don't really understand very well at that,
	...

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