Vaginitis: Clinical and Laboratory Aspects for Diagnosis

Vaginitis is one of the most common diseases that affect women's health, with over 50% of women experiencing at least one episode of vaginal infection in their lifetime. Vaginal disease can be infectious, non-infectious, or chronic in nature. However, most cases of vaginitis are the result of infection that accounts for over 10 million physician office visits in the United States each year. Infectious vaginitis is most commonly grouped into three major categories of disease based upon microbial etiology: bacterial vaginosis, vaginal candidiasis, and vaginal trichomoniasis. Occasionally, the vulva is infected by these microorganisms, as well, and the disease is then called vulvovaginitis. Because these three infectious syndromes are caused by different groups of microorganisms, accurate and reliable diagnosis is necessary to institute appropriate treatment. The purpose of this article is to review the various types of vaginitis, discuss the pathogenesis and clinical presentation of each type of disease, and provide a brief summary of some of the various methods available for the laboratory diagnosis of infectious vaginitis.