Learning Objectives and CME/Disclosure Information

This activity is intended for healthcare providers delivering care to women and their families.

After completing this activity, the participant should be better able to:

1. Diagnose BV based on 3 clinical criteria
2. List the CDC recommended treatment regimens

Estimated time to complete activity: 0.25 hours

Faculty:

Susan J. Gross, MD, FRCSC, FACOG, FACMG
President and CEO, The ObG Project

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM) requires instructors, planners, managers and other individuals who are in a position to control the content of this activity to disclose any real or apparent conflict of interest (COI) they may have as related to the content of this activity. All identified COI are thoroughly vetted and resolved according to PIM policy. PIM is committed to providing its learners with high quality CME activities and related materials that promote improvements or quality in healthcare and not a specific proprietary business interest of a commercial interest.

Faculty: Susan J. Gross, MD, receives consulting fees from Sema4, and has financial interest in The ObG Project, Inc.

Planners and Managers: The PIM planners and managers, Trace Hutchison, PharmD, Samantha Mattiucci, PharmD, CHCP, Judi Smelker-Mitchek, MBA, MSN, RN, and Jan Schultz, MSN, RN, CHCP have nothing to disclose.

Method of Participation and Request for Credit

Fees for participating and receiving CME credit for this activity are as posted on The ObG Project website. During the period from Dec 31 2017 through Dec 31 2020, participants must read the learning objectives and faculty disclosures and study the educational activity.

If you wish to receive acknowledgment for completing this activity, please complete the post-test and evaluation. Upon registering and successfully completing the post-test with a score of 100% and the activity evaluation, your certificate will be made available immediately.

For Pharmacists: Upon successfully completing the post-test with a score of 100% and the activity evaluation form, transcript information will be sent to the NABP CPE Monitor Service within 4 weeks.

Joint Accreditation Statement

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and The ObG Project. Postgraduate Institute for Medicine is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Physician Continuing Medical Education

Postgraduate Institute for Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 0.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Continuing Nursing Education

The maximum number of hours awarded for this Continuing Nursing Education activity is 0.2 contact hours.

Designated for 0.1 contact hours of pharmacotherapy credit for Advance Practice Registered Nurses.

Read Disclaimer & Fine Print

CLINICAL ACTIONS:

Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) occurs when normal hydrogen peroxide producing Lactobacillus sp. is replaced by multiple bacteria. If a woman presents with symptoms, including vaginal discharge, irritation and malodor

• Diagnose BV if 3 of the following (Amsel) clinical criteria are present
  • Homogeneous, thin, white discharge that smoothly coats the vaginal walls
  • Clue cells (e.g., vaginal epithelial cells studded with adherent coccobacilli) on microscopic examination
  • pH of vaginal fluid >4.5
  • Fishy odor of vaginal discharge before or after addition of 10% KOH (i.e., the whiff test),   OR
  • Gram stain (gold standard) to determine relative concentration of
    • Lactobacillus (long Gram-positive rods)
    • Gram-negative and Gram-variable rods and cocci (i.e., G. vaginalis, Prevotella, Porphyromonas, and peptostreptococci)
    • Gram-negative rods (i.e., Mobiluncus)
• Affirm VP III (Becton Dickinson, Sparks, MD), a DNA hybridization probe test for high concentrations of G. vaginalis
• OSOM BV Blue test (Sekisui Diagnostics, Framingham, MA), which detects vaginal fluid sialidase activity, have acceptable performance characteristics compared with Gram stain
• Do NOT use Pap tests
• Do NOT culture for G. vaginalis 

Vaginal wet mount with a NaCl preparation, showing a clue cell at bottom left, and two normal epithelial cells.

SYNOPSIS:

Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) is not caused by a single bacterium, but by high concentrations of anaerobic bacteria (e.g., Prevotella sp. and Mobiluncus sp.), G. vaginalis, Ureaplasma, Mycoplasma, and numerous other anaerobes. BV is associated with multiple or new sex partners, lack of condom use and in particular lack of vaginal lactobacillus.

KEY POINTS:

Treatment is recommended for women with symptoms, including discharge, irritation and malodor and may reduce the risk for C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoeae, T. vaginalis, HIV, and herpes simplex type 2.

Recommended CDC regimens include the following:

• Metronidazole* 500 mg orally twice a day for 7 days OR

• Metronidazole* gel 0.75%, one full applicator (5 g) intravaginally, once a day for 5 days OR

• Clindamycin** cream 2%, one full applicator (5 g) intravaginally at bedtime for 7 days

Alternative Regimens

• Tinidazole* 2 g orally once daily for 2 days OR

• Tinidazole* 1 g orally once daily for 5 days OR

• Clindamycin** 300 mg orally twice daily for 7 days OR

• Clindamycin** ovules 100 mg intravaginally once at bedtime for 3 days
• Secnidazole 2 g orally in a single dose 

*Alcohol consumption should be avoided during treatment with nitroimidazoles. To reduce the possibility of a disulfiram-like reaction, abstinence from alcohol use should continue for 24 hours after completion of metronidazole and 72 hours after completion of tinidazole.

**Clindamycin ovules use an oleaginous base that might weaken latex or rubber products (e.g., condoms and vaginal contraceptive diaphragms). Use of such products within 72 hours following treatment with clindamycin ovules is not recommended.

• Evidence is insufficient to recommend routine screening for BV in asymptomatic pregnant women at high or low risk for preterm delivery for the prevention of preterm birth 

• Test all women with BV for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)

• Follow-up visits are unnecessary if symptoms resolve
• Routine treatment of sex partners in not recommended
• Using a different recommended treatment regimen can be considered in women who have a recurrence
  • Retreatment with the same recommended regimen is an acceptable approach for treating persistent or recurrent BV after the first occurrence
• For women with multiple recurrences after completion of a recommended regimen, 0.75% metronidazole gel twice weekly for 4–6 months has been shown to reduce recurrences, although this benefit might not persist when suppressive therapy is discontinued

Learn More – Primary Sources:

CDC 2015 STD Treatments Guidelines – Bacterial Vaginosis

ACOG Practice Bulletin 215: Vaginitis in Nonpregnant Patients  

NEJM Review: Bacterial Vaginosis and Desquamative Inflammatory Vaginitis

Related ObG Topics:

Screening for Sexually Transmitted Diseases – Who, When and How Often?

Diagnosing Vaginitis – Why the Office Visit Still Matters

STD Screening in Pregnancy: CDC Recommendations

FDA Approves Secnidazole: Single-Dose Oral Treatment for BV