Bacterial Vaginosis which is also known as BV is a vaginal infection and is actually the most common cause of it.
It is also called vaginal bacteriosis less commonly.
The Center For Disease Control considers this to be sexually transmitted.
However, one should know that it is not actually transmitted from having sexual intercourse.
This being said it is more common among those women that are actively having sex.
The cause of BV is when there is an imblanace in the flora bacteria that is naturally occurring.
You should make sure that you are not confusing this with candidiasis (yeast infection) or with trichomoniasis.
These are not caused from the bacteria.
If you are wondering about the symptoms of bacterial Vaginosis then you should know that the symptom that is the most common is a vaginal discharge that is off-white.
This occurs most commonly after sex.
It is likely to also have a smell that is not pleasant.
The vaginal walls are coated by this malodorous discharge.
One will find that it is not common for there to be erythema, irritation, or even pain.
A discharge that is normal will have different consistency and even different amounts during ones menstrual cycle and it will be clearest during the two weeks before ones period starts.
For there to be a diagnosis made there are a few different things that might be done.
The first thing is that there needs to be swabs taken from higher up in one's vagina as well as an examination.
The swabs taken need to then be tested.
They will be looking for the smell of a fishy odor on the wet mount.
This is actually called a whiff test.
Also one will be looking for a loss of the acidity.
The last thing is looking for on the wet mount is a presence of what is called clue cells.
If these tests show two positives then it is enough to make a diagnosis of bacterial Vaginosis.
It is important to make sure that you get tested if you think that you might have bacterial vaginosis because the treatment for this disorder is very simply and generally only consist of antibiotics that are given either vaginally or orally and sometimes both are given.
One should know however that the rate of it reoccurring is high.
Treatment generally last for seven days and the older method of just a one time dose in not normally used because it is not very effective.