According to the American Pregnancy Association, the number of pregnant women that have bacterial vaginosis is 10-30%. When bacterial vaginosis occurs in a pregnant woman, it can potentially cause problems with the fetus. For example, a baby can be born pre-term or not grow as fast as it should in the uterus that is infected with organisms that cause bacterial vaginosis. There are countless cases where these babies are born with a low birth weight, which causes them to be at risk for many health problems in life.

To answer this question, think of how infections are spread. Obviously, someone won’t be breathing it in, or will they? Well, if they are having oral sex with the vagina of a woman who has bacterial vaginosis, then it’s possible to be breathing it in–in high quantities through the mouth and nose. When this occurs, the person now has large amounts of the microbe in his or her mouth, throat and possibly nose.

Many people believe that douching is harmful because it washes away the flora in the vagina. In fact, many physicians have stayed with the old feminine hygiene rule to not douche and recommend this to their patients. In 2003, two doctors, Dr. Martens and Dr. Monif tried to set the record straight and published their findings about douching in the journal called Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Although many women use successful home remedies for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis, what’s important is that you obtain at least a diagnosis! It doesn’t make sense to use home remedies for a supposed infection when in reality you have a completely different type of infection.

The drug is created so that a certain amount of the active ingredients are released in a specific amount of time. If you take Flagyl ER at 10 a.m. on one day, then at 2 p.m. the next day, you have extended the amount of time that the bacteria can multiply by four hours. This decreases the drug’s effectiveness. Similarly, if you take Flagyl ER for three or four days instead of 7 days, you have decreased its effectiveness.

In this category of vaginal irritation causes, the solution is to change the flora back to how it should be. This can be accomplished by obtaining treatment for a sexually-transmitted disease, eating yogurt, soaking a tampon with yogurt and then inserting it in the vagina for a few hours, or inserting a probiotic capsule in the vagina where the Lactobacillus bacteria then escape and feed the tissues of the vagina.

If you have bacterial vaginosis, you are well aware of a fishy odor that is found in your vaginal secretions.
The odor worsens after sexual intercourse, which makes sense because during sex, the vaginal secretions increase. However, knowing that doesn’t make it any easier; what do you do?

Having bacterial vaginosis is frustrating!

The fishy odor follows a woman everywhere she goes and she never feels clean. On top of that, she may have vaginal irritation and also a grayish discharge that keeps staining her panties.

The main reason why women get bacterial vaginosis is that their vaginal flora is out of balance.

Just as there are good and bad bacteria found inside the intestinal tract, there are good and bad bacteria found inside the vagina. The good bacteria are bacteria that keep the tissues healthy and do not cause any type of disease. The bad bacteria are bacteria that can cause disease if their numbers increase.

Lactobacillus acidophilus is a type of bacteria found in the normal flora of the human digestive system and vagina. This bacteria has actually been found to be helpful in human health. Research studies on this micro-organism have shown it to be effective in bacterial vaginosis and regulating the immune system, called immunomodulation.