A Prospective Study of Risk Factors for Bacterial Vaginosis in HIV-1-Seronegative African Women

Abstract

Vaginal washing and unprotected intercourse were associated with increased risk of BV. These findings could help to inform the development of novel vaginal health approaches for HIV-1 risk reduction in women.

A pilot study of the feasibility of a vaginal washing cessation intervention among Kenyan female sex workers

“…For this substudy, we recruited women who reported vaginal washing beyond the introitus within the last month. In addition, women were required to be sexually active, non-pregnant, not within the first 3 months post partum, and not on hormonal contraception or, alternatively, on stable hormonal contraception for ≥2 months 10 18. The study was approved by ethical committees at the Kenyatta National Hospital and the University of Washington.…”

Genital Infections of HIV-Infected Women Assisted by a Specialized Service

“…According to some researchers [43,44,46], the higher recurrence rate among patients who use condoms irregularly and have multiple partners reinforces the hypothesis of sexual ISRN Infectious Diseases 5 BV transmission. However, Bradshaw et al [40] observed a higher recurrence of the infection among non HIV-infected women with a steady partner, as it was observed in the present study on HIV-infected women.…”

“…e rate of hormonal contraceptive use, considered to be a protective factor against BV [39,40,44], was low (10.4%) in the studied sample; however, it was not related to higher persistence/recurrence, probably due to the small number of patients involved. Nevertheless, there was an association between BV persistence/recurrence and postmenopause ( 0.0 ), and none of the patients had hormonal replacement.…”

“…is may be related either to the lack of eradication of the microorganism [42] or to behavioral factors that enable reinfection [39,40,43,44]. Although there are few studies on BV recurrence in HIVinfected women, some authors [41,45] relate the greater recurrence of the microorganism to the lack of condom use by this population.…”

Women View Key Sexual Behaviours As the Trigger for the Onset and Recurrence of Bacterial Vaginosis

“…These findings concur with our earlier qualitative study [20], which also found the majority of women felt sexual activity triggered BV onset, the main triggers including unprotected sex and sex with a new male partner. Epidemiological data strongly supports women's experiences of the sexual triggers for BV, with studies commonly finding an association between an increased risk of BV and inconsistent or lack of condom use or a new sexual partner [2,17,[51][52][53][54][55]. To a lesser extent, lifestyle triggering factors nominated by women, such as psychosocial stress, have also been associated with an increased risk of BV [39,56].…”