A Novel Approach to Bacterial Vaginosis

Bacterial vaginosis (BV), like Clostridium difficile colitis, involves an alteration in the microbiome — dysbiosis — resulting in clinical signs and symptoms. Inspired by the success of fecal microbiome transplantation in treating C. difficile colitis, researchers in Israel assessed whether five women with intractable BV despite multiple rounds of antibiotics would respond to vaginal microbiome transplantation (VMT) from healthy donors. Each patient first received a course of intravaginal antibiotics (clindamycin or metronidazole) to “make room” for the VMT, which occurred 1 week later. Fluid from carefully screened healthy premenopausal women was collected from the upper half of the vagina and cervical fornix then transferred into the reci…