Endometriosis, affecting six million US women, could be caused by bacteria, ... trends now
Endometriosis, an agonizing condition that affects up to one in 10 American women, could be caused by bacteria commonly found in the mouth and gastrointestinal tract, a new study has suggested.
The disorder occurs when tissue similar to the womb's lining grows in other places, including the ovaries and fallopian tubes.
Researchers at Nagoya University Hospital and Toyota Kosei Hospital in Japan found that a specific bacterial genus was present in most women with endometriosis, compared to a small percentage of women who did not have the condition.
The bacteria, fusobacterium, Fusobacterium is a group of naturally occurring bugs often found in the mouth, gut, and vaginal region that trigger structural changes associated with endometriosis.
The bacteria is also linked to inflammatory conditions such as colorectal cancer and gum infection periodontitis.
Endometriosis affects women of all ages and can lead to pain, heavy periods, nausea and diarrhea. It is also a cause of infertility: 30 to 50 percent of women who struggle to get pregnant have the condition
Published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the study looked at 155 women in Japan.
This included 76 healthy women and 79 women with endometriosis.
The researchers took vaginal swabs from the women and found that 64 percent of those with endometriosis had Fusobacterium in their uterine lining. Just 7 percent of healthy women had this bacteria.
Follow-up treatments in mice with Fusobacterium suggested that antibiotic treatment could
