Sexually Transmitted Infections
The WHO estimated that 1 million new cases of STIs are acquired every
day
worldwide25.
It is known that the vaginal microbiome is more diverse when certain
STIs are present, such as chlamydia, HIV, and HPV26–29,
a trend that is true across race and ethnicity. It appears that STIs
correlate with metabolic differences in the vagina of healthy versus STI
communities, namely decreases in lactate, which is produced byLactobacillus , in the STI
communities29,
though this isn’t always true for
BV30.
Recent studies exploring Lactobacillus dominance identified an
association between STIs and lower abundance of Lactobacillus in
people of
color31.
Historically higher rates of STIs have been reported among minority
communities, though this is due to a multitude of structural and
behavioral
factors32.
It should be noted that the healthy reference group in STI-vaginal
microbiome studies is often majority white (or race unreported). This
means the reference group is significantly more likely to have aLactobacillus dominated community instead of the diverse
community. It is currently unexplored how the healthy, diverse
microbiome differs from the diverse community when STIs are present,
except for documenting the presence of pathogens.