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Updated: Sep 6, 2025

Multiplex Detection of Bacteria in Complex Clinical and Environmental Samples using Oligonucleotide-coupled Fluorescent Microspheres
Published on: October 23, 2011
Comparison of two microscopic interpretations of vaginal microbiota with molecular profiling
Mariana Durski1, Jacques Ravel2, Ana C P G Spautz1
1Programa de Pós-Graduação em Tocoginecologia e Saúde da Mulher, Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
Objective:
To compare the diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis (BV) by Nugent scoring criteria (Nugent-BV) and the diagnosis of BV and/or aerobic vaginitis (AV) using Donders criteria (Donders-BV/AV) for identifying Molecular-BV detected by bacterial 16s rRNA profiling.
Methods:
We enrolled 512 women of reproductive age in Brazil with data available on Nugent and Donders microscopic analysis and 16S rRNA sequencing. We constructed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of Nugent-BV and Donders-BV/AV and calculated their area under the curves (AUCs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for matching Molecular-BV.
Results:
A total of 155 (28.7%) participants were positive for Nugent-BV. Donders-BV and -AV were detected in 90 (17.6%) and 75 (14.6%) participants, respectively, while 28 (5.5%) had concurrent Donders-BV and -AV. Molecular-BV was identified in 139 (27.1%) participants. Analysis of ROC curves showed that diagnosis of Nugent-BV more accurately aligned with presence of Molecular-BV (AUC: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.84-0.91) when compared to Donders-AV/BV (AUC: 0.84; CI: 0.80-0.87) (P = 0.005).
Conclusion:
The use of Nugent-BV is more representative of Molecular-BV than Donders-AV/BV.
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