A Study of Bacterial Flora of Landfall

Botany

The microbiological flora of the lower female genital tract is a dynamic, complex example of microbial colonization, the regulation of which is not fully understood. Much of what we know about the bacterial composition of the female genital tract is derived from qualitative, descriptive studies. The fund of information that such studies have provided with regard to the microbial flora of the lower female genital tract is weakened by the intrinsic technical limitations that are inherent in the studies. Often, even the usefulness of qualitative data is negatively affected by inappropriate or suboptimal methods of data collection, failure to use appropriate transport systems or enriched media, or a lack of stringent anaerobic technique in the processing and culture of specimens. The importance of using specialized media is illustrated in a study of Clostridium difficile by Bramley et al. These investigators evaluated cultures of vaginal specimens obtained from 522 women who made a total of 902 visits to a family planning clinic, and they found this organism in only 1 patient. However, when a specialized medium that contained 0.2% para cresol was used, a higher rate of isolation (11%) was obtained. One can only speculate as to how many more microbial species would have been recovered if truly optimal media and methods had been used for all studies reported in the literature prior to the 1970s. Isolation techniques used prior to the 1970s resulted in a gross underestimation of the importance of anaerobic bacteria as major constituents of the normal flora of the female genital tract. Failure to use appropriate transport systems as well as failure to use optimal media and anaerobic culture techniques have compromised the results of many studies with regard to the delineation of the bacterial constituent’s present.

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