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Diagnosis of aerobic vaginitis by quantitative real-time PCR

  • General Gynecology
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate a real-time PCR-based technique to quantify bacteria associated with aerobic vaginitis (AV) as a potential test.

Methods

Vaginal samples from 100 women were tested by wet-mount microscopy, gram stain and quantitative real-time PCR targeting Enterobacteriacea, Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., Enterococcus spp., Escherichia coli, Streptococcus agalactiae, S. aureus; Lactobacillus spp. AV diagnosis obtained by wet-mount microscopy was used as reference.

Results

Some level of AV was diagnosed in 23 (23.7 %) cases. Various concentrations of Enterobacteriacea, Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp. were detected an all patients. Enterococcus spp. were detected in 76 (78.3 %) cases. Summarized concentrations of aerobes were tenfold higher in AV-positive compared to AV-negative cases [7.30lg vs 6.06lg (p = 0.02)]. Concentrations of aerobes in severe, moderate and light AV cases did not vary significantly (p = 0.14). Concentration of lactobacilli was 1000-fold lower in AV-positive cases compared to normal cases (5.3lg vs 8.3lg, p < 0.0001). Streptococcus spp. dominated in the majority of AV-positive cases [19/22 (86.4 %) samples]. The relation of high loads of aerobes to the low numbers of Lactobacilli are a reliable marker for the presence of AV and could substitute microscopy as a test.

Conclusions

PCR may be a good standardized substitution for AV diagnosis in settings where well-trained microscopists are lacking.

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Notes

  1. Logarithm to the base ten.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central Research Institute for Epidemiology, Moscow, Russia

    T. A. Rumyantseva, Y. A. Savochkina & A. E. Guschin

  2. Femicare Clinical Research for Women, Femicare vzw, Gasthuismolenstraat 31, 3300, Tienen, Belgium

    G. Bellen & G. G. G. Donders

  3. Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, University Hospital Antwerp, 2000, Antwerp, Belgium

    G. G. G. Donders

Authors
  1. T. A. Rumyantseva
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  2. G. Bellen
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  3. Y. A. Savochkina
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  4. A. E. Guschin
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  5. G. G. G. Donders
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. G. G. Donders.

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Funding

This study was funded by Central Research Institute for Epidemiology, Moscow, Russia, and Femicare, Tienen, Belgium.

Conflict of interest

Authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration.

Informed consent

Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

This work was an award winning presentation at the 1st ISIDOG/9th ESIDOG European conference in Riga, 29th Oct–1st Nov 2015.

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Rumyantseva, T.A., Bellen, G., Savochkina, Y.A. et al. Diagnosis of aerobic vaginitis by quantitative real-time PCR. Arch Gynecol Obstet 294, 109–114 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-015-4007-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-015-4007-4

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