Introduction Few studies have demonstrated that Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is associated with sexual behaviour risk factors similar to those for other sexually transmitted diseases. In the present study, the prevalence of these in a multivariate analysis of data from sexually active women infected with BV and either Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Treponema pallidum (syphilis), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) or HIV was observed; Non-BV infected women were used as control subjects.

Methods Data from 788 women screened in the SAVVY HIV gel phase III clinica! trial in Accra (West Legon Study Site) from 2012 to 2015 were analysed, Participants were evaluated for the presence of BV, CT, Treponema pallidum (PT), NG, Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and interviewed in detail with respect to sexual behaviours after consent forms were signed.

Results This study has shown a high association between BV and HIV ( p<0.01) with risk factor (0.4), which does not occurred in the other sexually transmitted diseases like NG, syphilis and Chlamydia with insignificant association (p<1) and risk factors (0.6, 0.7, 0.9) respectively. HIV was found to be the most prevalent sexually transmitted disease with 11.2%, Chlamydia 9.2%, TV 2.3%, Syphilis 1.7% and NG the least with 1.5%.

Conclusion Bacteria associated with bacterial vaginosis increase female genital-tract infection of HIV but the mechanism by which this happens is not clear. Bacterial vaginosis is not a sexually transmitted disease but predisposes one to HIV infection. It is strongly suggested that all cases of BV both symptomatic and asymptomatic that are presented in the sexual-health clinics should be treated to reduce the risk of PID, preterm delivery, and/or HIV transmission.