The State of Vaginal Microbiota in Girls Aged 2-13 Years with Respiratory Tuberculosis during Chemotherapy

The objective: to study the species and quantitative composition of vaginal microbiota in the girls aged 2-13 years, ill with respiratory tuberculosis during chemotherapy.

Subject and Methods: 80 girls aged 2-13 years were enrolled in the study: Group 1 (21 patients) included girls ill with respiratory tuberculosis at different stages of anti-tuberculosis therapy Group 2 (59 patients) included girls belonging to Health Groups 1 and 2, not registered in TB services. Vaginal microbiota was tested once using microscopy and real-time PCR (FEMOFLOR®16 reagent kit, DNA-Technology LLC, Russia). Results of the vaginal microbiota testing were assessed taking into account the Tanner stages for girls.

Results. In girls from Group 1, vaginal dysbiosis was recorded in 90.5% of cases (with Tanner I – 100% of cases, Tanner II-III – 88.9%, Tanner IV – 85.7%) and was associated in 66.7% of cases with candidal vulvovaginitis (with Tanner I – 100% of cases, Tanner II-III – 55.6%, Tanner IV – 57.1%). Vaginal dysbiosis occurred with complaints in 19.0% of cases and clinical manifestations in 71.4% of cases. Specific features of the vaginal microbiota composition in girls of Group 1 were identified based on the frequency of detection and quantitative content of symbionts. The molecular genetic testing made it possible to increase the efficiency of diagnosing candidal vulvovaginitis to 66.7%, versus 28.6% in microscopic examination of scrapings from the mucous membrane of vulva and vaginal vestibule with a predominance of the species Candida glabrata (42.8%).

Conclusion. The girls ill with tuberculosis and receiving anti-tuberculosis therapy suffer from significant changes in the species and quantitative composition of the vaginal microbiota.

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