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In health news today, The Age’s Wendy Tuohy has reported on landmark study, which is likely to change how Bacterial vaginosis is understood and treated globally.

The common infection that can cause miscarriage, premature birth and newborn deaths, and was previously considered a female bacterial problem, has been found to be a sexually transmitted infection (STI) also carried by men.

Bacterial vaginosis, (or BV as it is commonly known), is experienced by one third of women and is not caused by an imbalance in natural bacteria in women, but instead transferred between sexual partners, breakthrough Australian research has shown.

Men are “the missing link” in the riddle of why many women are often reinfected by BV, which can cause pain and discomfort, the study by Monash University, Alfred Health and researchers at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre found.

The paper, published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), is likely to change how BV is understood and treated globally.

Earlier attempts to discover why women experience repeated bouts of BV had not included treatment of male partners with both antimicrobial drugs and a topical cream usually given to women.

Read the full story here.