Tag : Vaginosis

Boston: Over the past ten years, the human microbiome has attracted a lot of attention due to research suggesting that disturbed bacterial communities are to blame for a variety of illnesses, including irritable bowel syndrome, dermatitis, and autoimmune diseases. The majority of research has concentrated on the microbiome found in the human stomach. Still, there is a growing consensus that another frequently understudied bacterial population, that of the vagina, merits equal study. Bacterial vaginosis (BV), which affects about 30 per cent of reproductive-aged women worldwide and is expected to cost USD 4.8 billion to cure each year, is brought on by disturbances of the vaginal microbiome. Pre-term birth, the second-leading cause of newborn death, and several sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, are both made more likely by BV in pregnant women. Antibiotics are now used to treat BV, but the condition frequently returns and can result in more serious problems such as pelvic inflammatory disease and even infertility. Living biotherapeutics are being investigated for the treatment of BV, just as probiotics are now being prescribed to treat gut problems. The human vaginal microbiome differs significantly from those of popular animal models, making it challenging to undertake preclinical experiments. According to studies, lactobacilli bacteria make up more than 70 per cent of the vaginal microbiome in healthy humans, but less than 1 per cent in the vaginal microbiomes of other mammals. Researchers at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University have created a solution to that problem in the form of a new Organ Chip that replicates the human vaginal tissue microenvironment including its microbiome in vitro. Composed of the human vag ...