Assessment of Prevalence, Adhesion and Surface Charges of Bifidobacterium spp. Isolated from Thai Women with Bacterial Vaginosis and Healthy Women

Background: Bifidobacterium spp. have been reported in women with bacterial vaginosis (BV), nevertheless data of prevalence and adhesion property of the vaginal bifidobacteria in Thai women with BV are still limited. Objective: To determine prevalence of Bifidobacterium spp. and to evaluate adhesion ability and cell surface properties of bifidobacterial isolates from Thai women with BV compared to healthy subjects. Material and Method: A total of 139 bifidobacterial isolates from 20 of 60 women with BV and 7 of 60 healthy women. The isolated strains were identified by molecular biology techniques and examined for adhesion property and surface charges. Results: The prevalence of vaginal bifidobacteria in women with BV (33.3%) was significantly (p<0.05) higher than healthy women (11.7%) with total counts of 8.9±3.4 Log CFU/ml and 5.7±2.9 Log CFU/ml, respectively. The frequent species of B. bifidum, B. longum, B. breve and B. dentium were found in women with BV, while healthy women harbored B. bifidum, B. longum and B. breve. All vaginal bifidobacteria from BV and healthy subjects were able to adhere cultured cells in vitro. The adhesion ability of B. bifidum and B. dentium from BV subjects showed high degree of adhesion property and was in correlation with cell surface characteristics. Conclusion: The prevalence of vaginal bifidobacteria occurred significantly higher in women with BV than healthy group. The strains of B. bifidum and B. dentium showed high adhesion property which implied as an important role of colonization in vaginas of women with BV.

Prevalence of lactobacilli in normal women and women with bacterial vaginosis.

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence and the number of lactobacilli in normal subjects and in women with bacterial vaginosis (BV). MATERIAL AND METHOD: The studied subjects consisted of 60 normal and 60 BV women. The diagnosis of BV was based on at least three of five indicators of Chandeying criteria. The vaginal specimens were collected and cultured on MRS plates for determination of lactobacilli counts. RESULTS: The number of lactobacilli was highly significant (p < 0.001) in the women with diagnosis of BK and the mean count of lactobacilli in BV was markedly decreased (5.3 +/- 1.8 log colony-forming unit--CFU/ml), compared with normal women (8.8 +/- 2.9 log CFU/ml). Among the treated BV group, follow-up vaginal specimen was encountered in 47 of 60 cases (78.3%). The proportion of lactobacilli isolation was slightly increased from 12 (25.5%) to 15 (31.9%) in 47 cases. Concordance with quantitative settlement of lactobacilli in BV was increased from 1.4 +/- 2.6 log CFU/ml, to 1.8 +/- 2.9 log CFU/ml in treated BV. Treated BV the lactobacilli had not restored significance (p = 0.5831), as well as the total bacteria. CONCLUSION: Lactobacilli dominantly occur in healthy women, and markedly decline in BV. However, the vaginal ecosystem is dynamically changed in the lactobacilli of either normal or BV women.