Pathogenicity of Gardnerella vaginalis (Haemophilus vaginalis)

The controversy over the pathogenicity of Gardnerella vaginalis has a variety of explanations, including difficulty in isolating the organism on cultures, failure to employ established criteria for recognizing the clinical entity, and failure of some to employ orthodox investigate protocols. Briefly reviewed is the evidence that the bacterium is the index organism of a precisely defined specific vaginal infection. Any thesis that anaerobic bacteria are co-pathogens and essential for establishment of the classic clinical entity G. vaginalis vaginitis is challenged. That anaerobic bacteria can live in symbiosis with G. vaginalis and that they may account for some variations in clinical features of the disease are consistent with the fact that various indigenous bacteria often modify the clinical characteristics of most specific infections of open body cavities. The author believes that G. vaginalis is never indigenous, that it is never commensal, and that it consistently induces a recognizable vaginal disease.