Partner treatment key to curing bacterial vaginosis
Introducing the newest STI – and how to cure it.
Two Australian researchers have made a breakthrough discovery that explains why more than 50 per cent of women who receive treatment for Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) get it back again within three months.
Professor Catriona Bradshaw and Dr Lenka Vodstrcil at Melbourne Sexual Health Centre and Monash University have proven that BV is sexually transmitted, upending the generally accepted notion that it occurs with no apparent outside cause.
Professor Bradshaw, who works as a sexual health physician and researcher at Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, said the symptoms of BV can be uncomfortable and include an increase in vaginal discharge and malodour.
“If untreated, BV can lead to Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), miscarriage and premature birth,” Professor Bradshaw said.
The findings from Prof Bradshaw and Dr Vodstrcil’s trial, now published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), will forever change the way BV is treated.
“If you’re a woman with BV in a heterosexual, monogamous relationship, our findings show you will be more likely to be cured and to avoid reinfection if both you and your partner are treated simultaneously,” Dr Vodstrcil said.
“Before we published these findings, there was limited evidence to prove men can both carry and transmit BV.”
Partner treatment is simple and affordable. For men it involves a course of antibiotics and a topical cream, to be used at the same time as their female partner receives treatment.
A new website developed by the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre aimed at consumers and health professionals provides all the information needed to prescribe and access partner treatment.
“This information has been co-designed with consumers and participants in our trial and health professionals to make it accessible to all,” Professor Bradshaw said.
“Changes in national and international treatment guidelines always take time, so we felt an obligation to provide accurate online and downloadable information at the time that the results of the trial are published.”
A link to the website can be found here.
