Brief encounters
IMAGINE A BEACH...
No, not a new competition to win a luxury holiday, but an image conjured up by Phil Hay to help us understand bacterial vaginosis (BV). The vagina, he points out, is not a steady state ecosystem. Like life in the littoral zone of the sea shore, it faces a constant ebb and flow of hormones, mucus, blood, semen, and soap, among other things. Perhaps understanding these changes may help us with unanswered questions about the aetiology of BV, including how lactobacilli colonise the vagina, why they are tolerated, how they are reduced in BV, and how they change in the frequent cycles of occurrence, persistence, and spontaneous recurrence of BV that have been found in studies of asymptomatic women. See p 100
WHO DO YOU THINK SHOULD BE TESTED?
Standard partner notification is of limited use in outbreaks of STI, particularly those affecting marginalised groups or anyone with large numbers …
