Women who develop bacterial vaginosis (BV) often later acquire chlamydia, a common and potentially serious sexually transmitted bacterial infection. Now, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have found that BV actually consists of two subtypes-one of which significantly increases the risk of developing chlamydia infections. The findings were made in a population of young Black and Hispanic women, who are disproportionately affected by both BV and chlamydia, but are historically understudied. The study, one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind, was published online today in the journal Cell.
“It was already known that BV raises a woman’s risk for acquiring chlamydia, but it wasn’t clear how the microbiome imbalances seen in BV contribute to that risk,” said study co-leader Robert Burk, M.D., professor of pediatrics, of microbiology & immunology, of obstetrics & gynecology and women’s health, and of epidemiology & population health at Einstein and vice chair for translational research in the department of pediatrics at Montefiore Einstein. “This research shows that specific changes in the cervicovaginal microbiome set the stage for chlamydia. And it shows that targeting treatment against the more-dangerous BV subtype could potentially prevent many women from developing chlamydia, which is particularly prevalent in historically underserved communities.”
BV affects at least 30% of women at any given time and up to 50% of Black and Hispanic women. Black and Hispanic adolescent and young adult females have a five-fold