Table 1.
Frequency of isolation and cell numbers of organisms from vaginal samples related to vaginal pH
| Determined vaginal pH | ||||
| Organisms | < 4.5 | ≥ 4.5 | ||
| Frequency of isolation1 | No. of organisms2 | Frequency of isolation1 | No. of organisms2 | |
| Aerobic flora | ||||
| Total aerobes3 | 109/115 | 7.20 ± 0.37 | 65/82 | 6.65 ± 1.57 |
| Lactobacillus spp. | 107/115 | 7.69 ± 1.61 | 61/82 | 6.58 ± 1.88 |
| H2O2-positive lactobacilli | 102/115 | 7.77 ± 1.53 | 56/82 | 6.46 ± 1.87 |
| H2O2-positive lactobacilli (>108 CFU/ml) | 64/115 | 8.72 ± 0.43 | 26/826 | 8.42 ± 0.65 |
| Anaerobic flora | ||||
| Total anaerobic isolates | 5/115 | 7.71 ± 0.32 | 9/82 | 8.06 ± 0.12 |
| Bifidobacterium spp. | 3/115 | 8.03 ± 0.42 | 5/82 | 7.94 ± 0.64 |
| Bacteroides spp. | 2/115 | 7.39 ± 0.09 | 4/82 | 8.19 ± 0.53 |
| Prevotella spp. | 0/115 | n.d.4 | 0/82 | n.d.4 |
| Molecular detection | ||||
| Gardnerella vaginalis | 26/115 | -5 | 25/82 | -5 |
| Candida spp. | 28/115 | -5 | 18/82 | -5 |
| Trichomonas vaginalis | 0/115 | -5 | 0/82 | -5 |
| Atopobium vaginae | 0/115 | -5 | 11/826 | -5 |
1 Values are numbers of observations/numbers of subjects
2 Values are log10 CFU/ml sample ± standard deviations
3 Including Coliform spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Staphylococcus spp.
4 not detected
5 no cell counts can be given due to the used methods (hybridisation and PCR, respectively)
6 P < 0.05 when compared to values for normal pH using the chi-square procedure