Characterization of vaginal flora and bacterial vaginosis in women who have sex with women.
Abstract
Bacterial vaginosis (BV) may be common among women who report having sex with women (WSW) and frequently occurs in both members of monogamous couples. The results of Gram staining of a vaginal smear were consistent with BV in 81 (25%) and intermediate in 37 (11%) of 326 WSW included in this study. Lactobacilli were detected in 64% of subjects, and 42% of subjects had H(2)O(2)-producing strains. BV was associated with a higher lifetime number of female sex partners, failure to always clean an insertive sex toy before use, and oral-anal sex with female partners. Neither recent douching nor sexual practices with male partners were associated with BV. Vaginal smears from each partner were concordant in 55 (95%) of 58 monogamous couples; BV was present in both partners in 16 couples (28%) (P<.001, compared with expected distribution). BV was common among subjects who did not douche, who did not have concurrent sex with male partners, or who did not have a new sex partner, which suggests that other risk factors for BV exist. These data support the hypothesis that sexual exchange of vaginal secretions is a possible mechanism for acquisition of BV.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Few data are available regarding the risk for STIs conferred by sex between women; however, transmission risk probably varies by the specific STI and sexual practice.
“Few data are available regarding the risk for STIs conferred by sex between women; however, transmission risk probably varies by the specific STI and sexual practice (e.g., oral-genital sex; vaginal or anal sex using hands, fingers, or penetrative sex items; and oral-anal sex) (291,292).”
From Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines, 2021 (2021) · cites this paper as [292]
The Discussion (Table 3; page not supplied) associates bacterial vaginosis in women who have sex with women with receptive oral-anal sex and sex toys not consistently cleaned between uses. The paper also says that aspects of BV transmission remain unstudied. It does not establish transmission risks across different STIs or all the sexual practices listed in the citing sentence. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe majority of WSW (53%-97%) have had sex with men in the past and continue to do so, with 5%-28% of WSW reporting male partners during the previous year.
“The majority of WSW (53%–97%) have had sex with men in the past and continue to do so, with 5%–28% of WSW reporting male partners during the previous year (292,297–300).”
From Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines, 2021 (2021) · cites this paper as [292]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 43 · Cited by 267
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Marrazzo JM, Handsfield HH. Characteristics of female sexually trans- mitted disease clinic clients reporting same-sex behavior, 1993-1997. Int J STD AIDS 2001; 12:41-6.
- Authors
- Marrazzo, J. M., Koutsky, L. A., Eschenbach, D. A., Agnew, K., Stine, K., & Hillier, S. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Corresponding author
- Marrazzo, Jeanne M.
- ORCID
- Marrazzo, Jeanne M.
- Venue
- The Journal of Infectious Diseases
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2002-05
- Volume
- 185
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1307-1313
- ISSN
- 0022-1899 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-6613
- OpenAlex
- W2126717573
- Cited by
- 267
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 7.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Infectious Diseases (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R29-AI41153-04, R29AI041153)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Reproductive tract infections research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Cervical Cancer and HPV Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Gynecological conditions and treatments
- Keywords
- bacterial vaginosis, women who have sex with women, vaginal microbiota, lactobacilli, monogamous couples, sexual transmission, sex toys, risk factors, vaginal smears, douching
- MeSH terms
- Bacteria, Female, Gardnerella vaginalis, Humans, Lactobacillus, Sexual Behavior, Vagina, Vaginosis, Bacterial, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Homosexuality, Female, Prevotella
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
