Abstract

The prevalence of diverse genital infections among women and their increasing resistance to antibiotics has motivated researchers to study the use of probiotics to prevent and treat them. Samples of vaginal discharge were collected from healthy married women. The types of lactobacilli present were identified by biochemical and molecular testing. The antiviral properties of a culture supernatant of wild species or strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-5 on the standard strain of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) was evaluated. L. acidophilus culture supernatant significantly decreased the amount of plaque produced by HSV-1 on cells. Similar results were obtained for the standard strain. The inhibitory effect of the wild L. acidophilus did not require the production of H2O2 or H+ ions of the standard strain or an acidic environment. L. acidophilus was able to control HSV-1 without producing H<inf>2</inf>O<inf>2</inf> or H+ ions or acidifying the environment. The inhibitory property of virus is most likely related to production of active metabolites.