Novel Bacterial Mucinase, Glycosulfatase, Is Associated with Bacterial Vaginosis

The modifications to the vaginal habitat accompanying a change to vaginal flora in bacterial vaginosis (BV) are poorly understood. In this study enzymes involved in mucin degradation were measured, including a novel glycosulfatase assay. Women attending an emergency walk-in sexually transmitted disease clinic were studied. One high vaginal swab (HVS) was used to prepare a gram-stained smear to determine BV status, using Ison and Hay's criteria, and a separate swab was used for the purposes of the assays. The median glycosulfatase activity was 8.5 (range, -1.2 to 31.9) nmol h⁻¹ 1.5 ml⁻¹ of HVS suspension in patients with BV compared to 0.5 (range, -0.7 to 9.4) nmol h⁻¹ 1.5 ml⁻¹ of HVS suspension in patients without BV (P =