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High Risk of HIV Linked to Common Vaginal Infection

Women with bacterial vaginosis are at 60% higher risk of contracting the human immunosuppressant virus (HIV) than women without the infection, according to the findings of a study just released from the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health.  Research hasn’t yet revealed which infection came first but, since both infections are sexually transmitted, the findings of the UNC study may lead to improved treatments, perhaps a means of prevention, for either of the two life-changing infections.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) occurs when the balance of normal vaginal bacteria becomes off balance, causing one bacteria to flourish enough to cause harm.  In addition to immediate gynecological complaints, long-term effects of BV infection include upper genital tract infections, pelvic inflammatory disease that can lead to sterility, and the inability to carry a pregnancy to full term.

Jennifer S. Smith, an assistant professor of epidemiology research at UNC’s School of Public Health, led her research team through analysis of 23 studies previously published that targeted women with bacterial vaginosis and HIV.  Their data included almost 31,000 cases that ranged from the United States to Thailand to the African nations Burkina Faso, Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.  The rate of BV infection in these nations ranges from about 11% of the population of women of reproductive age to as high as 70%.

Women who had BV but who did not engage in high-risk behaviors were 60% more likely to be infected than women who did, in fact, engage in risky behaviors.  Researchers believe the weak link between BV, high risk behaviors, and HIV may be that the risky behaviors are more likely to lead to HIV infection than the BV infection does.

The link between the two infections hasn’t been unraveled yet but there is speculation that the BV infection changes the environment in the vagina enough to make infection from HIV more conducive.  One type of bacteria normally found in the vaginal area acts as a defense system against microorganisms, including HIV, that threaten to alter biochemical balance.  There is the possibility that the flourishing BV destroy some of these defending bacteria, thereby making HIV infection easier.  Another thought is that an altered pH level may prove beneficial to HIV colonization.

Source: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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