Gingivitis linked with vaginal bacteria load

NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Feb 11 - A link between vaginal bacteria and gingivitis is reported in the current issue of BioMed Central Infectious Diseases, published January 22 and available online.

Dr. Rutger Persson of the University of Berne, Switzerland, and colleagues collected vaginal samples from 180 women at least 6 months postdelivery. The women also underwent standard periodontal examinations. Gingivitis was defined as bleeding on probing at more than 20% of gingival site surfaces.

The investigators used two panels of DNA probes to look for 74 bacterial species that are commonly associated with either bacterial vaginosis (BV) or periodontitis.

Seventeen women (9.4%) had BV only, 71 (39.4%) had gingivitis only, and 38 (21.1%) had both BV and gingivitis.

Independent of gingival conditions, bacterial counts for 38 species were significantly higher in women with BV than in those without. In women with BV who also had gingivitis, bacterial counts for 49 species were significantly higher than in women with neither condition.

Regardless of BV status, women with gingivitis had higher counts of Prevotella bivia (p < 0.001) and P. disiens (p < 0.001) -- species usually associated with BV -- compared to those without periodontal disease.

In addition, compared to women with BV alone, women who also had gingivitis had significantly higher counts of P. bivia and P. disiens as well as Mobiluncus curtisii and M. mulieris, also usually associated with BV.

The highest odds ratios for the presence of BV plus gingivitis were 3.9 for P. bivia and 3.6 for P. disiens.

"The fact that some bacterial species were found at higher counts in the vaginal samples of women with BV and gingivitis than among those only with BV may be an important observation suggesting that having gingivitis has an impact on the bacterial load in women with BV," the authors conclude.

BMC Infect Dis 2009.

Last Updated: 2009-02-10 14:55:55 -0400 (Reuters Health)

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