ArticleBMC infectious diseases2015
Correlates of the molecular vaginal microbiota composition of African women.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Effect of Exogenous Sex Steroids on the Vaginal Microbiota: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Pooled it
- Effect of contraceptive methods on the vaginal microbiome and host immune factors.Contraception · 2025Trial
- Vaginal Bacteria and Proinflammatory Host Immune Mediators as Biomarkers of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Acquisition Risk Among African Women.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2024Trial
- Influence of Hormonal Contraceptive Use and HIV on Cervicovaginal Cytokines and Microbiota in Malawi.mSphere · 2023Trial
- An exploratory pilot study evaluating the supplementation of standard antibiotic therapy with probiotic lactobacilli in south African women with bacterial vaginosis.BMC infectious diseases · 2019Trial
- Unique Insights in the Cervicovaginal Lactobacillus iners and L. crispatus Proteomes and Their Associations with Microbiota Dysbiosis.PloS one · 2016Trial
- Persistence of Bacterial Dysbiosis, Cervicovaginal Human Papillomaviruses, and Inflammation in Women Living With HIV-1 After a Year of Antiretroviral Therapy.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2026Observational
- The Vaginal Microbiota of Adult Malagasy Women of Reproductive Age in the Marovoay District: First Characterization and Exploration of Associations With Human Papillomavirus and Schistosoma haematobium Infections.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2026Article
- The Pathophysiology of Spontaneous Preterm Birth: Emerging Mechanisms Reviewed by the Preterm Birth International Collaborative.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2026Review
- Microbiome-Maternal Tract Interactions in Women with Recurrent Implantation Failure.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- Article
- Observational
- A Review on Microbial Species for Forensic Body Fluid Identification in Healthy and Diseased Humans.Current microbiology · 2023Review
- Compositional Changes in the Vaginal Bacterial Microbiome of Healthy Pregnant Women across the Three Gestational Trimesters in Ismailia, Egypt.Microorganisms · 2023Article
- Roles of the Microbiota of the Female Reproductive Tract in Gynecological and Reproductive Health.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2022Review
- Alterations of the vaginal microbiome in healthy pregnant women positive for group B Streptococcus colonization during the third trimester.BMC microbiology · 2022Article
- The Vaginal Microbiota Composition and Genital Infections during and after Pregnancy among Women in Pemba Island, Tanzania.Microorganisms · 2022Article
- Role of the human vaginal microbiota in the regulation of inflammation and sexually transmitted infection acquisition: Contribution of the non-human primate model to a better understanding?Frontiers in reproductive health · 2022Review
- Lactobacillus crispatus thrives in pregnancy hormonal milieu in a Nigerian patient cohort.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Composition of the vaginal microbiota during pregnancy in women living in sub-Saharan Africa: a PRISMA-compliant review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors at 8 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSociodemographic, behavioral and clinical correlates of the vaginal microbiome (VMB) as characterized by molecular methods have not been adequately studied. VMB dominated by bacteria other than lactobacilli may cause inflammation, which may facilitate HIV acquisition and other adverse reproductive health outcomes.
methodsWe characterized the VMB of women in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania (KRST) using a 16S rDNA phylogenetic microarray. Cytokines were quantified in cervicovaginal lavages. Potential sociodemographic, behavioral, and clinical correlates were also evaluated.
resultsThree hundred thirteen samples from 230 women were available for analysis. Five VMB clusters were identified: one cluster each dominated by Lactobacillus crispatus (KRST-I) and L. iners (KRST-II), and three clusters not dominated by a single species but containing multiple (facultative) anaerobes (KRST-III/IV/V). Women in clusters KRST-I and II had lower mean concentrations of interleukin (IL)-1α (p < 0.001) and Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) (p = 0.01), but higher concentrations of interferon-γ-induced protein (IP-10) (p < 0.01) than women in clusters KRST-III/IV/V. A lower proportion of women in cluster KRST-I tested positive for bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs; ptrend = 0.07) and urinary tract infection (UTI; p = 0.06), and a higher proportion of women in clusters KRST-I and II had vaginal candidiasis (ptrend = 0.09), but these associations did not reach statistical significance. Women who reported unusual vaginal discharge were more likely to belong to clusters KRST-III/IV/V (p = 0.05).
conclusionVaginal dysbiosis in African women was significantly associated with vaginal inflammation; the associations with increased prevalence of STIs and UTI, and decreased prevalence of vaginal candidiasis, should be confirmed in larger studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.