A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF THE VAGINAL LACTOBACILLUS POPULATION IN BLACK-AND-WHITE WOMEN

Urinary tract infections are a common problem, particularly among wome n. New methods are required to manage recurrent urogenital infections, and preliminary research to date suggests that restoration of the Lac tobacillus population of the urogenital tract may prevent these infect ions. In a comparative study on vaginal Lactobacillus populations, 100 Lactobacillus isolates each were obtained from the vaginas of black a nd while women respectively, and identified to species level. Seven di fferent Lactobacillus species were isolated from black and five from w hite women. The species were, with percentage prevalence in parenthese s, L. acidophilus (white, 55%; black, 42%), L. brevis (white, 0%; blac k, 26%), L. casei (white, 13%, black, 6%), L. delbrueckii (white, 3%; black, 1%), L. fermentum (white, 17%; black, 16%), L. plantarum (white , 0%; black, 1%) and L. jensenii (white, 12%; black, 8%). Lactobacillu s isolates differed in their antagonism towards urogenital pathogenic Escherichia coli in vitro. Strains of the species L. delbrueckii, L. c asei and L. acidophilus were the most antagonistic against E. coli. La ctobacillus isolates obtained from white women who had not used antibi otics during the preceding five years showed significantly higher anta gonism against uropathogenic E. coli, than isolates obtained from wome n previously exposed to antibiotics.