What: A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that bacterial vaginosis—a painful infection that affects up to one-third of women and recurs for most within a year despite antibiotics—is sexually transmitted between partners. A study that gave male partners an oral and topical antibiotic led to only 35% of women getting BV again, compared to 63% in the control group.
Key line: “The findings are ‘pretty significant for women’s health,’ said Dr. Christina Muzny, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She was not involved in the study but coauthored an editorial about its findings in the New England Journal of Medicine. Not only do the study results change how B.V. could be treated going forward, she said, but they also seem to confirm a long-held suspicion among scientists that the condition is actually a sexually transmitted infection. ‘Patients and providers are going to need renewed education on B.V.,’ Dr. Muzny said.