New bacteria linked to vaginal infections
By Ben Harder
From Boston, at a meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Several species of normally harmless bacteria flourish in the vagina. But sometimes this internal ecosystem turns nasty, causing what’s called bacterial vaginosis, which can produce a fishy odor and milky discharge. Researchers haven’t been able to pin the blame on any single bacterium.
That’s because several newly described bacteria appear to share much of the responsibility, says David Fredricks of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.