Light micrograph of a cervical smear, or pap smear, from someone with bacterial vaginosisDR. Y. BOUSSOUGAN/CNRI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYWomen with bacterial vaginosis, a recurrent condition that raises the risk of pregnancy complications, could benefit from their male sexual partners being treated with antibiotics, according to a trial that found this nearly halved the risk of symptoms returning.Treating male partners made the most significant inroad into improving recurrence rates in women that we have seen for decades, says Catriona Bradshaw at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, who led the work. AdvertisementBacterial vaginosis (BV) affects around a quarter of women of reproductive age worldwide. It occurs when harmful bacteria overgrow in the vagina, causing vaginal discharge to turn greyish-white and smell fishy, with potentially serious complications. It increases a womans risk of acquiring a broad range of sexually transmitted infections, like HIV, and complications in pregnancy, such as premature birth and miscarriage, says Bradshaw.Doctors usually treat the condition using antibiotics in the form of pills or a cream that can be applied inside the vagina, but symptoms often recur because having sex seems to reintroduce problematic bacteria, says Bradshaw. One in two women will get their BV back within three to six months of the recommended treatment regimen, says Bradshaw.To address this, Bradshaw and her colleagues recruited 137 monogamous women in Australia with bacterial vaginosis, along with their male partners. All of the women took standard antibiotics for a week, while around half of their partners were given oral antibiotics and told to apply an antibiotic cream to the penis over the same period. The remaining men received no treatment. None of the participants was transgender.Get the most essential health and fitness news in your inbox every Saturday.Sign up to newsletterThree months later, 63 per cent of the women whose partners werent treated had recurring symptoms, while just 35 per cent of the women with partners who received antibiotics experienced a recurrence. Its definitely a sizable effect that makes it a worthwhile intervention for this group of women, says Janneke van de Wijgert at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.I see a ton of women that have issues with ongoing BV and, absolutely, Ill be applying this new information to my own clinical practice, says Christina Muzny at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.The team didnt track all the participants over the long term, but some got back in touch years later to say they remained free of symptoms. In the last week, Ive talked to someone whos been clear of BV for two years since they participated and these women were highly recurrent before the trial, says Lenka Vodstrcil at Monash University.However, the approach wont work for women with casual sexual partners, where it may be difficult to get them to adhere to taking antibiotics, says van de Wijgert. Even in monogamous relationships, men may not always be willing to take antibiotics, she says. Weve seen this with condom use, which also reduces BV recurrence it can be really difficult for women to get their male partners to use condoms.Journal reference:The New England Journal of Medicine DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2405404Topics: