2023-07-12 14:58:51
And at cystitis can affect both men and women, this urinary infection triggered most of the time by the presence of bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Proteus and Klebsiella nevertheless a predominantly female pathology. The figures speak for themselves: in France, one in two women will contract cystitis at least once in her life. “At least once”, because for many women, recurrences are frequent. What is less known is that the occurrence of cystitis tends to increase following menopause. Thus, according to a 2019 American study(1), recurrence rates reach 16 to 36% before the menopause, but up to 55% following the latter. This significant difference of recurrence in postmenopausal women would have for origin various factors: the genital prolapse (descent of organs), the greater prevalence of diabetes, the lack of estrogens, but also the vaginal flora imbalances (microbiota). It is on this last factor that researchers from the University of Okayama, in Japan, have looked.
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Differences in microbiota breasts
To carry out their studies (2), they analyzed samples of the vaginal flora taken from 39 postmenopausal women with or without occasional or recurrent cystitis. They were then able to observe that there were many disparities between the flora of healthy patients and that of patients with urinary tract infections. The differences mainly concerned the presence or abundance in their respective microbiota of six types of bacteria: Prevotella, Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Enterobacteriaceae, Anaerococcus et Bifidobacterium.
The researchers also observed that the microbiota of uninfected women suffering from occasional cystitis were completely different from those of women with recurrent cystitis. The dominant species in the latter belonged rather to various members of the family of Enterobacteriaceae which includes many uropathogenic bacteria, including Escherichia coli. In addition, the scientific team did not find any lactobacilli in the vaginal samples postmenopausal women regularly suffering from cystitis. However, this type of bacteria (often used as probiotics) is nevertheless essential to the good balance of the microbiota, especially vaginal.
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Vaginal flora: probiotics to avoid intimate problems
Lactobacilli to prevent recurrence
With a view to preventing recurrences of cystitis, the researchers also studied the relative abundance of the different bacterial species present in the vagina before and following administration vaginal eggs containing Lactobacillus curlatus. The use of these eggs resulted in an increase in lactobacilli levels of around 19%, causing a stabilization of the vaginal dysbiosis and a decrease in the virulence of pathogenic bacteria. This type of egg might, according to the researchers, divide by a little less than three the number of episodes of cystitis (from 6.3 episodes to 2.4 on average annually). Since then, probiotics might become a reference preventive treatment once morest recurrent cystitis, reducing the often too automatic recourse to antibiotics. Indeed, their intake is less and less effective and increases, in the long term, the risks of antibiotic resistance. Prevention is better than cure, with probiotics or other natural remedies.
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Cystitis: what natural remedies?
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