The results do not provide sufficient evidence for or against recommending probiotics for the treatment of BV .
BACKGROUND The dominance of lactobacilli in healthy vaginal microbiota and its depletion in bacterial vaginosis ( BV ) has given rise to the concept of oral or vaginal instillation of probiotic Lactobacillus strains for the management of this condition .
OBJECTIVES To ascertain the efficacy of probiotics in the treatment of BV .
Probiotic Lactobacillus dose required to restore and maintain a normal vaginal flora.
Forty-two healthy women were r and omized to receive one of three encapsulated Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 plus Lactobacillus fermentum RC-14 probiotic dosage regimens or L. rhamnosus GG by mouth each day for 28 days . However , the vaginal flora , assessed by Nugent scoring , was only normal in 40 % of the cases , and 14 patients had asymptomatic bacterial vaginosis . Treatment with L. rhamnosus GR-1/L. fermentum RC-14 once and twice daily correlated with a healthy vaginal flora in up to 90 % of patients , and 7/11 patients with bacterial vaginosis converted to normal or intermediate scores within 1 month . Ingestion of L. rhamnosus GG failed to have an effect . This study confirms the potential efficacy of orally administered lactobacilli as a non-chemotherapeutic means to restore and maintain a normal urogenital flora , and shows that over 10(8 ) viable organisms per day is the required dose
The results do not provide sufficient evidence for or against recommending probiotics for the treatment of BV .
BACKGROUND The dominance of lactobacilli in healthy vaginal microbiota and its depletion in bacterial vaginosis ( BV ) has given rise to the concept of oral or vaginal instillation of probiotic Lactobacillus strains for the management of this condition .
OBJECTIVES To ascertain the efficacy of probiotics in the treatment of BV .