subject: Understanding Bacterial Vaginosis Causes And Risk Factors [print this page] Many women assume that vaginal yeast infections are the most common vaginal infections, but the truth is that the prevalence of bacterial vaginosis (BV) infection is higher than yeast infection among women of reproductive age.
The exact causes of bacterial vaginosis are still under investigation. What is known so far is that some changes occurred in the vaginal environment in BV.
In BV, the balance of the good and bad bacteria inhabiting the vaginal area is disrupted there is now more bad bacteria, i.e. BV-causing bacteria, than the good ones, the hydrogen-peroxide producing lactobacilli.
Due to the fact that a variety of bacteria are involved in BV, it makes the condition not easy to diagnose and to eliminate once and for all. However, these days more and more women managed to eradicate BV completely with natural BV cures.
The commonly known bacterial vaginosis causes include:
1. Sexual activity
While BV is not considered a sexually transmitted infection, studies have found a link between BV and sexual activity. Nevertheless, it remains unclear as to how sex alters the balance of vaginal bacteria.
What have been observed by medical scientists so far are:
* The risk of getting BV is greatly increased if the woman has more sexual partners.
* BV may be linked to having a new sexual partner.
* The male partner does not get BV symptoms even if he may carry the same germs in his urinary tract as in the woman with BV.
* Not using a condom may increase the chances of getting BV.
2. Vaginal douching
Medical studies have found that vaginal douching is a contributing factor to BV because it upsets the balance of the vaginal flora. It was hypothesized that douching either causes an imbalance to the vaginal flora or stimulates inflammation due to irritation from douching.
This then predisposes the woman to BV. Most commercial douche products contain mainly fragrance, water and acetic acid, but certain products also contain surfactant detergents, which may irritate the vaginal wall lining and increase the risk of infection.
3. Other identified bacterial vaginosis causes include cigarette smoking, use of intrauterine device (IUD) for birth control, and stress.
