What Are the Symptoms of Vaginitis and Which Medications Should Be Used?

Vaginitis is a common gynecological disease, which is mainly caused by unclean sexual life in women. Vaginitis can also lead to cross-infection, so women should avoid sexual activities during treatment. Patients with vaginitis usually show symptoms such as vulvar itching, increased vaginal secretions, and foul odor. They need to take timely medication, such as metronidazole or ampicillin, or sitz baths with potassium permanganate.

What are the symptoms of bacterial vaginitis? 10% to 40% of patients are asymptomatic, while those with symptoms mainly manifest as increased vaginal secretions with a foul odor, which may be accompanied by mild vulvar itching or burning sensation. The secretions are grayish-white, uniform, thin, and have a low viscosity, making it easy to wipe them off the vaginal wall. There is no inflammatory manifestation of vaginal mucosa congestion. The leucorrhea of bacterial vaginitis is usually abnormal, with changes in color, odor, quality, and texture. The changes in color, odor, quality, and texture can be diverse, presenting as watery leucorrhea, cream-like or ointment-like leucorrhea, yellow viscous leucorrhea, or patchy viscous leucorrhea.

Other bacterial vaginoses often occur in sexually active women and are related to multiple sexual partners. Women who are not sexually active rarely suffer from this disease. It is still unclear whether this disease is caused by sexually transmitted pathogens. Treating sexual partners has limited value in preventing recurrence of bacterial vaginosis.

1. Oral medication therapy: a. Metronidazole: It is currently considered to have reliable efficacy. The dosage is 0.2-0.4 grams orally, 2-3 times a day. To avoid gastrointestinal reactions or when using large doses, vitamin B6 can be added. The course of treatment is 7-10 days. b. Meclocycline (clotrimazole): 2 tablets twice daily for 3 days. c. Thiamphenicol (cefalexin): It is effective against various Gram-positive and positive bacteria and has good efficacy against anaerobic bacteria growth, so it can also be used. The dosage is 10 tablets at a time or 1-2 tablets three times a day for 3 days. d. In addition, clindamycin and ampicillin can also be used. However, long-term and large-dose use of broad-spectrum antibiotics is not recommended to avoid causing imbalance of normal vaginal flora. Some also advocate that asymptomatic patients do not need treatment.

2. Local therapy: Vinegar and acidic solutions can be used to regularly flush the vagina, which can improve symptoms and help control the disease. Metronidazole suppositories can also be placed in the vagina, one every night for a week.