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The microbiome contained in the penis will be altered by vaginal intercourse

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A transmission electron micrograph of a colony of Gardnerella vaginalis, micro organism which might be present in vaginas and the urethras of males who’ve vaginal intercourse

MOREDUN ANIMAL HEALTH LTD/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

The male urethra – the tube by means of which urine exits the physique – is residence to an array of micro organism, a few of that are most likely picked up throughout vaginal intercourse.

Evelyn Toh on the Indiana College College of Medication and her colleagues swabbed the urethras of 110 males who had no sexually transmitted infections or urethra-related points. The lads, common age 28, got here from a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds. Transgender folks weren’t included within the research.

Of those males, 92 supplied swabs with adequate ranges of bacterial DNA for additional evaluation.

The detected micro organism could possibly be separated into two teams – these that may reside within the presence of oxygen and subsequently most likely dwell close to the tip of the penis, and people who can’t reside when oxygen is current and subsequently most likely dwell larger up within the urethra.

The previous group was present in a lot of the males’s swabs and are most likely native to the penile urethra, in line with the researchers.

The latter group, nonetheless, was dominated by micro organism which might be typically disrupted within the situation bacterial vaginosis (BV), a typical trigger of bizarre vaginal discharge that’s thought to return about when the vagina’s microbiome will get out of sync.

Of the 110 males, 75 recognized as heterosexual, 22 as gay and 13 as “bisexual or other”.

Solely the lads who reported having vaginal intercourse had the BV-associated micro organism, akin to Gardnerella vaginalis, suggesting that they acquired them throughout vaginal intercourse. These micro organism weren’t related to oral or anal intercourse.

“The most important takeaway of our study is that it establishes a baseline for the flora of a healthy [penile] urethra,” says co-author David Nelson, additionally on the Indiana College College of Medication.

Catriona Bradshaw at Monash College in Melbourne, Australia, says that this research particulars the bacterial composition of an infection-free penile urethra, which might function a baseline to measure whether or not a penile microbiome is wholesome or contaminated.

The outcomes additionally help the speculation that males who’ve vaginal intercourse and not using a condom could switch sure micro organism from one girl to a different, says Erica Plummer at Monash College.

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