A brilliant review of the state and importance of the Vaginal Microbiome. In 5 years time, supplementation of the VM will be commonplace for treating common vaginal ‘infections’ but regrettably until that time, women will needlessly suffer recurrence due to a lack of understanding of the underlying mechanisms causing the symptoms.
Health journalist, editor, copywriter, content editor and strategist. Former Health Editor of the Daily Telegraph and Food Editor of the Sunday Times.
We're all familiar with the gut microbiome, but now researchers are turning their attention to the vaginal microbiome, which like so much of women's health has been historically under-researched. Treating imbalances in the vaginal microbiome can make a huge difference to chronic conditions like bacterial vaginosis where the standard treatment is still an old antibiotic from the 1980s and where it recurs in between 50% - 70% of women within a year. “It’s taken a very long time, and tenacious people, but we’re on the precipice of really understanding BV," says Dr Jo Bailey, consultant NHS gynaecologist and medical advisor to new company VJJ Health Ltd that is marketing a range of probiotics. For women in lower- and middle-income countries in particular, the development of an affordable, accessible treatment for BV could be transformative in reducing stigma and could help to alleviate rates of HIV infections. I spoke to experts in the field to learn more about this exciting area of research. Thanks to Professor Craig Cohen, Adam Power, Serah Gitome, Resolve Global Health Angela Tufvesson #womenshealth #womenshealthmatters #vaginalmicrobiome #microbiome #bacterialvaginosis