The present study focused on the characteristics of the vaginal microbiomes in prepubertal girls with and without vulvovaginitis. We collected 24 vaginal samples and 16 fecal samples from 10 girls aged 3–9 years with vulvovaginitis and 16 healthy girls of the same age. The samples were divided into three groups: fecal swabs from healthy controls (HF), vaginal swabs from healthy controls (HVS), and vaginal swabs from girls with vulvovaginitis (VVS). Sequencing of the V3–V4 region of the 16S rDNA gene was performed with the NovaSeq PE250 platform to reveal the vaginal microbial community structure in healthy prepubertal girls and vulvovaginitis-associated microbiota. The intestinal microbiomes of healthy children were also analyzed for comparison. This study revealed that the healthy vaginal tract in prepubertal girls was dominated by Prevotella, Porphyromonas, Ezakiella, and Peptoniphilus species, with a high diversity of microbiota. The vulvovaginitis-associated microbiota were dominated by Streptococcus, Prevotella, Haemophilus, and Granulicatella, with lower diversity than that in healthy girls. Furthermore, the compositions of the vaginal and intestinal microbiomes were completely different. ANOSIM, MRPP, Adonis, and AMOVA were used to analyze the beta diversity, and the results showed that there were significant differences in the microbial communities among the three groups. Lactobacillus deficiency and high bacterial diversity were characteristics of the vaginal microbiome in healthy prepubertal girls; this is inconsistent with that in reproductive-age women. The vulvovaginitis-associated vaginal microbiota differed dramatically from normal microbiota, and the main causative agents were not fecal in origin.

本研究侧重于有和没有外阴阴道炎的青春期前女孩的阴道微生物群特征。我们收集了 10 名 3-9 岁患有外阴阴道炎的女孩和 16 名同龄健康女孩的 24 份阴道样本和 16 份粪便样本。样本分为三组：健康对照 (HF) 的粪便拭子、健康对照 (HVS) 的阴道拭子和患有外阴阴道炎 (VVS) 的女孩的阴道拭子。使用 NovaSeq PE250 平台对 16S rDNA 基因的 V3-V4 区域进行测序，以揭示健康青春期前女孩和外阴阴道炎相关微生物群的阴道微生物群落结构。还分析了健康儿童的肠道微生物组以进行比较。本研究表明，青春期前女孩的健康阴道主要由普氏菌，卟啉单胞，Ezakiella和Peptoniphilus种，微生物的高度多样性。外阴阴道炎相关微生物群以链球菌、普氏菌、嗜血杆菌和粒状菌为主，多样性低于健康女孩。此外，阴道和肠道微生物组的组成完全不同。采用ANOSIM、MRPP、Adonis和AMOVA分析β多样性，结果表明三组间微生物群落存在显着差异。乳酸菌缺乏和高细菌多样性是健康青春期前女孩阴道微生物组的特征；这与育龄妇女的情况不一致。外阴阴道炎相关的阴道微生物群与正常微生物群显着不同，主要病原体并非来源于粪便。