Bacterial Vaginosis, Infertility and Pregnancy
Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) is a vaginal infection caused by an imbalance in the normal bacteria that live "down there." That's right; bacteria are normal and healthy most of the time. With BV, however, one colony of bacteria declares world domination over the others and screws up our ph levels. It's the most common vaginal infection diagnosed. It's not technically a sexually transmitted disease, though it is sometimes associated with having sex (especially if you have a new or more than one partner). Like many other vaginal infections, some women have symptoms and some don't. If you have a weird discharge, itching, pain, burning or odor—get thee to the clinic.
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The Centers for Disease Control say that anywhere from 10 to 30% of pregnant women have BV. It's easily diagnosed with a vaginal exam and lab tests and treated with antibiotics. You can get it more than once, however, and it sometimes takes more than one antibiotic to cure it. And unfortunately, so many women just don't realize there's a problem down there—and so it spreads and causes more complications.
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Many women become concerned about BV messing up their chances of getting pregnant and doing something bad to their babies when they do conceive. The bacteria themselves don't prevent pregnancy, but damage caused by an untreated infection can. When BV goes crazy, it can spread from the vagina up into the uterus and fallopian tubes. This kind of infection is called pelvic inflammatory disease and can, if left untreated, cause damage to the tubes. This can prevent sperm from reaching the egg and cause infertility.
If you're prone to getting BV, when you do get pregnant, you and your doctor should be on the lookout and will do proactive screening. BV can mess with pregnancy but doesn't always. It's been connected to increased miscarriages, premature labor and low birth weight babies. The good news: the antibiotics commonly used (metronidazole or clindamycin) for BV are safe to take when pregnant.
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