Figure 2.
Overview of the proof-of-concept study. Twenty women with acute VVC were recruited for the proof-of-concept study where they were asked to use a vaginal gel containing lactobacilli once daily before bedtime over the course of 10 days. Patients were asked to return for evaluation of symptoms and VVC diagnosis (through microscopy and culture) one, two and four weeks after the intake visit. At each visit vaginal lavage fluid was collected for 16 S rRNA and ITS sequencing and qPCR. For evaluation of the gel’s safety, a blood sample was collected at the first two visits. Data on medical history and patient satisfaction was collected through questionnaires at the intake visit and study termination (visit 4). In this figure, images from Servier Medical Art (http://smart.servier.com/) were used unchanged, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).