In a study published on Wednesday in the journalScience Translational Medicine,Japanese researchers examined vaginal swab samples from 155 women – 76 healthy women and 79 women with endometriosis. They found that 64 per cent of the women with endometriosis tested positive for bacteria in the genus fusobacterium in their uterine lining,while less than 10 per cent of the healthy women carried the bacteria there.
After the initial discovery,researchers used mouse models to investigate the link further. They found an increase in endometriotic lesions after injecting mice with fusobacterium. When they gave antibiotics to the mice,the lesions’ number and weight declined significantly.
Some strains of fusobacterium are harmless,but others can cause severe infections in humans. Fusobacterium are associated with oral diseases such as periodontitis and tonsillitis,but this is the first time the bacteria have been linked to problems with the female reproductive system.
Yutaka Kondo,one of the study authors and a cancer biologist from Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan,described the discovery as groundbreaking in the field of women’s healthcare.
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“Previously,nobody thought that endometriosis came from a bacterial infection,so this is a very new idea,” Kondo says.
Endometriosis is a condition in which tissues similar to those in the uterine lining grow outside the uterus. The lesions cause excruciating menstrual cramps and digestive issues and can lead to infertility. Previous research attributed the affliction to retrograde menstruation,a genetic predisposition or hormones,though no one knows the exact cause.