Rethinking a 'Healthy' Vagina (4 of 6) (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Rethinking a 'Healthy' Vagina (4 of 6)

Caption

Knowing the vaginal microbiota type may enable the development of probiotics (live beneficial organisms) and prebiotics (beneficial nutrients that stimulate good organisms) that will allow the maintenance of a healthy vaginal microbiota, providing maximum defense against infection and other conditions. This image relates to a paper that appeared in the May 2, 2012 issue of Science Translational Medicine, published by AAAS. The paper, by Dr. P. Gajer at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md., and colleagues, was titled, "Temporal Dynamics of the Human Vaginal Microbiota."

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Image courtesy of Jacques Ravel and Larry Forney

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