Daily temporal dynamics of vaginal microbiota before, during and after episodes of bacterial vaginosis

Abstract

Background: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common gynecologic diagnosis characterized by dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiota. It is often accompanied by vaginal symptoms such as odor and discharge, but can be asymptomatic. Despite over 50 years of research, the etiology of BV is not well understood, which is a major impediment to treatment and prevention of BV.

Results: Here we report on the temporal dynamics of 25 vaginal communities over a 10 week period using samples collected daily from women who were diagnosed with symptomatic BV (15 women), asymptomatic BV (6 women), and women who did not have BV (4 women).

Conclusion: This unique resource of samples and data will contribute to a better understanding of the role that the vaginal microbes have in the natural history of BV and lead to improved diagnosis and treatment.

Figure 1

Daily temporal dynamics of vaginal bacterial communities. (A) and (B) Women diagnosed with asymptomatic bacterial vaginosis (ABV) at some point during the ten-week period are shown. (C) to (H) women diagnosed with symptomatic bacterial vaginosis (SBV) at some point during the ten-week period are shown. (A) through (H) Color codes for each phylotype represented in the interpolated bar plots are shown next to each panel. Pink open circles indicate symptomology. Red closed circles indicate menstruation days. Large black open circles represent ABV diagnosis. Large black closed circles represent symptomatic BV diagnosis. Small closed circles indicate BV medications used. Daily Nugent scores (range: 0 to 10) and pH (range: 4 to 7) are indicated below the graphs. See Additional file 4: Figure S1 for interpolated bar plots for all subjects.