Bacterial vaginosis, which is caused by bacteria overgrowing in the vagina, can be hard to treat, with women often experiencing recurring symptoms. Now it seems that asking their male sexual partners to use antibiotic pills and cream could be key to tackling the condition
By Carissa Wong
5 March 2025
Light micrograph of a cervical smear, or pap smear, from someone with bacterial vaginosis
DR. Y. BOUSSOUGAN/CNRI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Women with bacterial vaginosis, a recurrent condition that raises the risk of pregnancy complications, could benefit from their male sexual partners being treated with antibiotics, according to a trial that found this nearly halved the risk of symptoms returning.
“Treating male partners made the most significant inroad into improving recurrence rates in women that we have seen for decades,” says Catriona Bradshaw at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, who led the work.
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Bacterial vaginosis (BV) affects around a quarter of women of reproductive age worldwide. It occurs when “harmful” bacteria overgrow in the vagina, causing vaginal discharge to turn greyish-white and smell fishy, with potentially serious complications. “It increases a woman’s risk of acquiring a broad range of sexually transmitted infections, like HIV, and complications in pregnancy, such as premature birth and miscarriage,” says Bradshaw.
Doctors usually treat the condition using antibiotics in the form of pills or a cream that can be applied inside the vagina, but symptoms often recur because having sex seems to reintroduce problematic bacteria, says Bradshaw. “One in two women will get their BV back within three to six months of the recommended treatment regimen,” says Bradshaw.
To address this, Bradshaw and her colleagues recruited 137 monogamous women in Australia with bacterial vaginosis, along with their male partners. All of the women took standard antibiotics for a week, while around half of their partners were given oral antibiotics and told to apply an antibiotic cream to the penis over the same period. The remaining men received no treatment. None of the participants was transgender.