Vaginal Microbiota and Probiotics for the Prevention and Treatment of Recurrent Vulvovaginal Infections

Women's obstetric and reproductive health has been under increasing investigation in recent years. A problem of high prevalence and importance is vaginal infections and the recurrence to which they tend to lead. The most frequent are bacterial vaginosis, which is involved in 40-50% of vaginitis cases, and vulvovaginal candidiasis, which accounts for about 20%. Recent studies examine the role of the vaginal microbiota in disease and the relationship between dysbiosis (altered state of the microbiota) and vaginal infections and how the incidence could be prevented or reduced by restoring the natural vaginal microbiome. Multiple reproductive health consequences arise from microbial invasions and alterations in the vaginal tract, making it an issue to be addressed. The uncontrolled use of antibiotics and antifungals to treat such problems not only leads to drug resistance but also to the potentiation of dysbiosis. This review aims to analyse the efficacy of complementary therapies to traditional therapies to treat vaginal infections, such as the use of probiotics to restore the vaginal ecosystem.