Microbiología Médica y Diagnóstico

Clinical Significance of Gardnerella vaginalis

Abstract

Venkataramana Kandi

In this era of instrumentation, and lab automation, there is great improvement in the isolation and identification of microbes associated with various infectious diseases. The cause of concern is the fact that, not all microorganisms isolated from the human clinical specimens are the pathogens. Also, there are areas in human body which are normally colonized by bacteria, which are commonly termed as commensals. Isolation of such organisms from the patients with signs of infections, and to confirm their role as a pathogen appears be difficult. Therefore, it is important to understand the normal microbial flora and its changes before and after the signs of infection. Vaginal environment is known to be colonized with Lactobacilli, which is responsible for the acidic nature, and the reason for resistance against other infections. But several studies have demonstrated the presence of other bacterial flora that include Gardnerella vaginalis (G. vaginalis), both in the absence as well as during infection/inflammation. Several other reports have noted the presence of G. vaginalis associated with infections including the urinary tract infections. This review attempts to evaluate the potential role of G. vaginalis in human infections, and its clinical significance when isolated from human clinical samples.