A number of health benefits are associated with good bacteria. Good bacteria, for instance, are known to help in preventing and treating diarrhea as well as in boosting the body's immune system. It also appears that good bacteria may even play an important role in minimizing the risks of contracting deadly diseases with no available treatment just yet.
By growing human vaginal skin cells in the laboratory, a group of researchers led by Richard Pyles of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, have discovered that certain good bacteria can protect women from the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which causes the deadly acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which to date remains incurable.
In the study "Cultivated Vaginal Microbiomes Alter HIV-1 Infection and Antiretroviral Efficacy in Colonized Epithelial Multilayer Cultures" published in the PLOS ONE journal March 27, the researchers found that good bacteria can protect women from HIV and other STD's after treating laboratory-grown vaginal skin cells with HIV and antiviral drugs.
The researchers observed that the vaginal cells colonized with good bacteria and treated with antiviral drugs produced less HIV than those that were not occupied with healthy bacteria suggesting that the healthy bacteria can act as barrier against bad bacteria and viruses including HIV affecting the way they infect and replicate.
Good bacteria may not provide women with 100 percent protection against HIV but the findings suggest they have the potential to lower the risks. The researchers are also optimistic that the laboratory model of the human vagina can help in other related research.
"This model is unique as it faithfully recreates the vaginal environment ex vivo, both in terms of the host cellular physiology and the associated complex vaginal microbiomes that could not previously be cultured," said study author Marc Baum from Oak Crest Institute of Science in Pasadena, California. "I believe it will be of immense value in the study of sexually transmitted infections."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 50,000 people are estimated to get infected with HIV in the U.S. per year. As of 2010, the U.S. had 47,500 new HIV infections. More than 30 million people worldwide are estimated to be living with HIV.
