Longitudinal analysis of the vaginal microflora in pregnancy suggests that L. crispatus promotes the stability of the normal vaginal microflora and that L. gasseri and/or L. iners are more conducive to the occurrence of abnormal vaginal microflora

Table 2 Overview of microflora patterns on Gram stain on follow-up for patients who displayed an abnormal microflora in the first trimester (n = 23)

patient number	trimester I	trimester II	trimester III
PB2003/070	I-like	Ib	Ia
PB2003/106	I-like	Ib	Ib
PB2003/120	I-like	III	Ia
PB2003/117	I-like	I-like	I-like
PB2003/088	I-like	I-like	IV
PB2003/121	II	Ia	Ia
PB2003/123	II	Iab	Ia
PB2003/012	II	Ib	Ib
PB2003/108	II	I-like	Ia
PB2003/063	II	I-like	I-like
PB2003/076	II	II	Ib
PB2003/017	II	III	Ib
PB2003/080	II	I-like	IV
PB2003/044	II	II	I-like
PB2003/046	II	II	II
PB2003/105	II	II	II
PB2003/078	III	Ib	Ib
PB2003/079	III	Ib	Ib
PB2003/094	III	I-like	Ia
PB2003/132	III	III	III
PB2003/144	IV	I-like	Ib
PB2003/025	IV	I-like	I-like
PB2003/008	IV	IV	IV

Gram stained vaginal smears were scored according to the criteria previously described by Verhelst et al [7]. Briefly, Gram-stained vaginal smears were categorized as grade I (normal) when only Lactobacillus cell types were present, as grade II (intermediate) when both Lactobacillus and bacterial vaginosis-associated cell types were present, as grade III (bacterial vaginosis) when bacterial vaginosis-associated cell types were abundant in the absence of lactobacilli, as grade IV when only gram-positive cocci were observed, and as grade I-like when irregularly shaped or curved gram-positive rods were predominant [7]. For the purpose of this study, grade I or Lactobacillus-dominated vaginal microflora is designated as 'normal vaginal microflora' and all other grades as 'abnormal vaginal microflora'.

ISSN: 1471-2180