Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title:  Probiotics for V aginal Health in South Africa: What is on Retailers' Shelves?  
 
Version: 0 Date: 28 Nov 2016 
 
Reviewer:  Marcia  Hobbs  
 
Reviewer’s report:  
 
The survey of available vaginal probiotics in Durban and Cape Town,South Africa and the 
authors' commentary on the paucity of prodcuts and lack of data supporting claims o f health 
benefits is a timely and important contribution to the Journal. The manuscript is generally well -
written. Suggestions to improve the presentation of results and clarity in a few places in the text 
are offered below:  
 
1.  At the end of the Introduc tion, the last sentence in the paragraph at the top of p. 6, insert the 
word 'likely' before suitability, to avoid the possible expectation by readers that the authors 
actually evaluated products in a biological system as part of the work presented.  
 
2.  T he data presented in Figure 2B appear to be li mited by space considerations. As presented 
with the data sorted by the number of microbial strains included in the products, none of the 
vaginal probiotics appear in the f igure for the main manuscript. Consi der re -organizing the data 
to include some products from each category here, or perhaps just the vaginal products, as t his is 
the focus of the paper. There is no need to retain columns for organisms that are not included in 
the products selected for the f inal figure. The complete table is appropriate as supplementary 
information.  
 
3.  In the section describing claims of probiotics for vaginal health on p. 11, the text in lines 42 -
44 asserts restoration and maintanance of healthy vaginal flora and reduction  of pathogenic 
bacteria an d yeast without qualification. Consider including the word 'claims' here for 
consistency with the remainder of the paragraph.  
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the  necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.   
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the  editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an 
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publica tion of this 
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose 
financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the 
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that 
holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other fin ancial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the  above, write 'I declare that I have no competing interests' 
below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
I declare that I have no competing interests.  
 
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