Papel dos bacteriófagos na Etiopatogenia da vaginose bacteriana

Abstract

Bacterial vaginosis is the most common gynecological disease in the world. Characterized by replacement of the vaginal microbiota, consisting mainly of Lactobacillus sp. by an anaerobic bacteria such as Gardnerella vaginalis, Mycoplasma hominis, Prevotella ssp., among others. Several risk factors have been identified for this disease, as large numbers of sexual partners, smoking, tratement with systemic antibiotics, chemotherapeutics, etc. Despite the great public health importance, this disease does not have any identified cause. It is known that the production of lactic acid, hydrogen peroxide and bacteriocins by lactobacillus is able to protect the vaginal mucosa of anaerobic infections. Thus first must occur the decrease of the lactobacillus population before other anaerobic bacteria can colonize these mucosa. Bacteriophages are the center of some hypotesis that explain these decline in lactobacilli population. The participation of lactobacilli in the vaginal mucosa, of bacteriophages that infect these bacteria and their importance in the vaginal microbiota are discussed in this work.