Lactobacillus Vaginal Microbiota of Women Attending a... : Sexually Transmitted Diseases (original) (raw)

Article

Lactobacillus Vaginal Microbiota of Women Attending a Reproductive Health Care Service in Benin City, Nigeria

Anukam, Kingsley C. PhD*†; Osazuwa, Emmanuel O. PhD†; Ahonkhai, Ijeoma PhD†; Reid, Gregor PhD*‡

From the *Canadian Research & Development Centre for Probiotic, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada; the † Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, Nigeria; and the ‡ Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, and Surgery, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

The support of NSERC of Canada is appreciated and the technical assistance of Ms. Christine Heineman, Ms. Dominique Lam, and Ms. Sheri Saunders of LHRI are appreciated. The authors also thank Dr. M. Ngwu, a gynecologist, Shepherd Clinic and Maternity, and Dr. E. C. Ohanaka, Dr. Onakewhor, Dr. G. I. Osemene, and Mr. Martin Duru of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), for their assistance in the collection of the vaginal samples.

Correspondence: Kingsley C. Anukam, PhD, Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, Nigeria. E-mail: [email protected].

Received for publication March 22, 2005, and accepted May 31, 2005.

Objective:

The objective of this study was to determine whether Lactobacillus species found in African women differ substantially to those of white decent, described in previous studies. The vaginal microbiota play an important role in female health, and when the naturally dominant lactobacilli are displaced resulting in bacterial vaginosis (BV), the host is more at risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

Methods:

Vaginal samples were collected from 241 healthy, premenopausal Nigerian women, which were then Gram-stained for Nugent scoring. Microbial DNA was extracted, amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Lactobacillus primers, and processed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Lactobacillus species were identified by DNA sequencing and BLAST algorithm.

Results:

Of the samples, 207 (85.8%) had PCR products for lactobacilli, whereas 34 (14.2%) showed absence of lactobacilli, which correlated to the BV Nugent scores. On sequencing of amplicons, 149 subjects (72%) had sequence homologies to lactobacilli. Most women (64%) were colonized by L. iners as the predominant strain, similar to previous findings in Canadian and Swedish women. L. gasseri was found in 7.3% samples, followed by L. plantarum, L. suntoryeus, L. crispatus, L. rhamnosus, and other species.

Conclusion:

The findings indicate that even with geographic, racial, and other differences, the predominant vaginal Lactobacillus species is similar to species in women from Northern countries.