Thanks for your question about bacterial vaginosis (BV)! It can be very frustrating if you’ve taken all of your medication and followed the advice of your health care provider and BV still comes back. BV is very common and results from a change in the bacterial flora in the vagina. It is sometimes hard to treat, as 30% of women who get better after treatment will get BV again within three months, and more than 50% of women will have BV again within 12 months. Experts don’t know exactly why this happens but they do know that there are ways to lower the chance of BV recurring which includes: not having sex or making sure you use a condom EVERY TIME you have sex, limiting the number of sexual partners you have, and not douching. Treating your partner is not recommended, but using condoms makes it more likely that the healthy bacteria in the vagina will stay and prevent the return of BV. If your symptoms are the same, it’s likely that the BV infection has returned but there is no way to know for sure without seeing your health care provider. It’s possible that you may need a different kind of treatment for another type of vaginal infection. Women who have more than three BV infections in a year may need to take medication such as metronidazole for longer than five days. Talk to your health care provider about how to lessen your chance of getting BV and find out if you need to take a longer course of medicine.
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