Association of high-risk sexual behaviour with diversity of the vaginal microbiota and abundance of Lactobacillus

To compare the vaginal microbiota of women engaged in high-risk sexual behaviour (sex work) with women who are not engaged in high-risk sexual behaviour. Diverse vaginal microbiota, low in Lactobacillus species, like those in bacterial vaginosis (BV), are associated with increased prevalence of sexu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2017-11, Vol.12 (11), p.e0187612-e0187612
Main Authors: Wessels, Jocelyn M, Lajoie, Julie, Vitali, Danielle, Omollo, Kenneth, Kimani, Joshua, Oyugi, Julius, Cheruiyot, Juliana, Kimani, Makubo, Mungai, John N, Akolo, Maureen, Stearns, Jennifer C, Surette, Michael G, Fowke, Keith R, Kaushic, Charu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
AIDS
Analysis
Bacteria
Biology and Life Sciences
Clusters
Complications and side effects
Cytokines
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Female
Gardnerella vaginalis
Health aspects
Health risks
HIV
Human behavior
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Immunology
Infectious diseases
Lactobacillus
Lactobacillus - isolation & purification
Medicine
Medicine and Health Sciences
Microbiota
Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms)
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Pathogens
Pathology
People and Places
Prostitutes
Prostitution
Risk
Risk factors
rRNA 16S
Sex
Sex industry
Sexual Behavior
Sexually transmitted diseases
Social Sciences
Vagina
Vagina - microbiology
Vaginosis
Viruses
Womens health
Workers
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Summary:To compare the vaginal microbiota of women engaged in high-risk sexual behaviour (sex work) with women who are not engaged in high-risk sexual behaviour. Diverse vaginal microbiota, low in Lactobacillus species, like those in bacterial vaginosis (BV), are associated with increased prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) acquisition. Although high-risk sexual behaviour increases risk for STIs, the vaginal microbiota of sex workers is understudied. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted comparing vaginal microbiota of women who are not engaged in sex work (non-sex worker controls, NSW, N = 19) and women engaged in sex work (female sex workers, FSW, N = 48), using Illumina sequencing (16S rRNA, V3 region). Bacterial richness and diversity were significantly less in controls, than FSW. Controls were more likely to have Lactobacillus as the most abundant genus (58% vs. 17%; P = 0.002) and composition of their vaginal microbiota differed from FSW (PERMANOVA, P = 0.001). Six microbiota clusters were detected, including a high diversity cluster with three sub-clusters, and 55% of women with low Nugent Scores fell within this cluster. High diversity was observed by 16S sequencing in FSW, regardless of Nugent Scores, suggesting that Nugent Score may not be capable of capturing the diversity present in the FSW vaginal microbiota. High-risk sexual behaviour is associated with diversity of the vaginal microbiota and lack of Lactobacillus. These factors could contribute to increased risk of STIs and HIV in women engaged in high-risk sexual behaviour.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0187612