Antibiotic use by men may help lower the incidence of bacterial vaginosis in women

Light micrographs of neck smears or Pap smears from people with bacterial vaginosis

Dr. Y. Boussougan/CNRI/Science Photo Library

Women with bacterial vaginosis, a recurrent condition that increases the risk of pregnancy complications, can benefit from male sexual partners being treated with antibiotics, according to a trial that found that their risk of symptoms returning was nearly half.

“Treating male partners has led to the most important invasions to improve the rate of recurrence in women that we have seen for decades,” he says. Catriona Bradshaw He led the work at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) affects Approximately one-quarter of women of reproductive age all over the world. It occurs when “harmful” bacteria grow in excess in the vagina and cause vaginal discharge. Turn the greyish white and smell the fishthere are potentially serious complications. “It increases the risk for women to acquire a wide range of sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV, and complications during pregnancy, such as preterm birth and miscarriage,” says Bradshaw.

Doctors usually treat the condition with antibiotics in the form of creams that can be applied inside the vagina, but symptoms often recur because having a sex appears to reintroduce the problematic bacteria, Bradshaw says. “One in two people will regain their BV within three to six months of the recommended treatment regimen,” Bradshaw said.

To address this, Bradshaw and her colleagues recruited 137 monogamous women in Australia with bacterial vaginosis along with their male partners. All women took standard antibiotics for a week, but about half of their partners were given oral antibiotics and were told to apply antibiotic cream to their penis during the same period. The remaining men were not treated. None of the participants were transgender.

Three months later, 63% of women whose partners were not treated had recurrence symptoms, while only 35% of women who received antibiotics experienced a recurrence. “This definitely has a significant effect of becoming a valuable intervention for this group of women,” he says. Janneke van de Wijgert At Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

“I've seen a lot of women who have issues with BV ongoing. I'll definitely apply this new information to my clinical practice.” Christina Muzny University of Alabama at the University of Birmingham.

The team did not track all participants over the long term, but they regained contact after years and said they had no symptoms. “Last week I spoke to someone who had been exempt from BV for two years since they joined. These women had been recurring very much before the trial.” Lenka Vodstrcil At Monash University.

However, this approach does not work for women with casual sexual partners. There, it may be difficult to get people to adhere to taking antibiotics, says Van de Wijgert. Even in monogamous relationships, she says, men may not always be willing to take antibiotics. “We've seen this with condom use. This also reduces BV recurrence. It can be really difficult for women to have their male partners use condoms.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

The incidence of colorectal cancer is increasing in young populations globally

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It’s not entirely clear why colorectal cancer is increasing among adults under 50

Steve Gschmeisner/Science Photo Library

The incidence of colorectal cancer in young adults is increasing worldwide, but this trend appears to be most prevalent in high-income countries.

Previous studies have shown that the incidence of bowel or colorectal cancer is increasing. Over the past few decades, it has increased in this age group in Western countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. This has led to speculation that Western lifestyles, including a diet high in meat and processed foods, may be to blame.

To better understand the extent of the problem, song hyunah Researchers from the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, Georgia, and colleagues looked at the incidence of colorectal cancer in 50 countries and territories around the world. They typically used the World Health Organization’s database to collect data on incidence rates from 1975 to 2017, although some countries started reporting this information several years after 1975. Ta.

The research team found that the incidence of colorectal cancer among people aged 25 to 49 is rising in 27 countries and territories. These also include non-Western countries such as Japan and less wealthy countries such as Turkey, raising the possibility that Western lifestyles are not solely behind this trend.

The increase is also unlikely to be related to improved screening tests, the researchers said in the paper, as most countries do not routinely test people for colorectal cancer until age 50.

However, all 27 countries and territories have high or very high scores on the United Nations Human Development Index, which is based on life expectancy, education level, and per capita income.

Additionally, all but six are considered high-income earners, according to the World Bank. Unlike most of the high-income countries studied, in these six countries, cases of colorectal cancer among older people are increasing at the same or faster rate than among younger people.

“I think there’s still evidence of trends that economic development and westernization of lifestyles are really having an impact,” he says. Andrew Chan The Harvard University researchers noted that many countries are adopting aspects of this lifestyle as their economies grow. for example, Japanese meat intake It increased more than seven times between 1961 and 2021.

“Having said that, I think we need to take into account the fact that there are probably other factors at play, such as environmental contaminants,” Chan says.

The researchers note that their study has several limitations, the most obvious being that countries in Africa, Asia and small islands were underrepresented. For example, only one African country was included: Uganda. Some countries did not have complete datasets. For example, India’s figures represent only 4 percent of the population.

Still, these findings could improve our understanding of how colorectal cancer incidence varies in many countries and help devise new ways to prevent the disease, Zhang said. say.

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Source: www.newscientist.com