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Prevalence and determinants of vaginal flora alterations in postmenopausal women

Wendy L Pabich1, Stephan D Fihn, Walter E Stamm

  • 1University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA.

The Journal of Infectious Diseases
|September 27, 2003
PubMed

The vaginal ecology of 463 community-dwelling postmenopausal women was characterized. Vaginal lactobacilli were present in 62% of the women and were significantly more prevalent among women receiving hormone replacement therapy during the previous year. Vaginal Escherichia coli and enterococci were each present in 39% of women and were significantly more frequent in women with a history of urinary tract infection. Heavy growth of lactobacilli was associated with a lower frequency of vaginal colonization with E. coli. Thus, postmenopausal women have a relative depletion of vaginal lactobacilli and an increase in vaginal E. coli compared with premenopausal women.

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