Introduction: The objective of this study was to establish the efficacy of local probiotic monotherapy for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis.
Method: A total of 141 women with bacterial vaginosis, randomized into two groups, were examined. In the first group, 85 women were treated with local probiotic medicine (QD for 10 days) containing Lactobacillus casei var rhamnosus Döderlein (Lcr35®). In the second group, 56 patients received the same local probiotic treatment as those in the first group, in addition to treatment with an oral administration of metronidazol (500 mg tablet BID for 7 days). The efficacy of the monotherapeutic scheme was evaluated by comparing the number of clinical complaints and the results of clinical examinations and microbiological tests in the two groups.
Results: One month after the probiotic monotherapy in the first group, the clinical efficacy was 47.1% and the microbiological efficacy was 41.1%. The combined treatment in the second group was more efficacious (clinical efficacy: 89.3%; microbiological efficacy: 76.7%).
Conclusions: Thus, our results indicate that local probiotic monotherapy is less effective than combined metronidazole/probiotic scheme for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis.
Key words: Lactobacilli, monotherapy, probiotic, vaginal flora
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