187
With Isala, we found 187 women (or approximately 6% of all participants) in whom this bacterium was dominant in their vagina. In the Isala daughter studies, we also found this bacterium in the gut.
What does this bacterium look like?
Prevotella is a small rod of approximately 1.5 micrometers long with a thin cell wall. That is small when you know that 1,000 micrometers fit into one millimeter. Prevotella was named after André Romain Prévot, a French microbiologist who researched anaerobic bacteria, which are bacteria that thrive in environments with little oxygen.
What does science already know about this bacterium?
Prevotella does not tolerate oxygen well and is therefore difficult to cultivate in the lab. As a result, scientists do not yet know much about this bacterium and more research is still needed. We do know that there are different types of Prevotella bacteria that all behave a little differently. The Prevotella species of the gut are already much better studied than those of the vagina. Prevotella bivia and Prevotella timonensisis seem to be the most common species in the vagina, whereas Prevotella copri and Prevotella stercorea occur in the gut.
We now know that Prevotella has an average genome size between 2 and 6 million base pairs, with more than 2,000 genes. This means that this bacterium can produce more than 2,000 different substances.
What is this bacterium doing in my gut?
Prevotella is an important inhabitant of your gut. The exact role of the different Prevotella species has not yet been extensively studied because they are very difficult to grow in a lab environment. What we do know is that Prevotella is a hard worker that loves food residues that you cannot digest yourself, such as fiber from fruit and vegetables. When Prevotella gets to work, it converts these food residues into useful substances. Propionate is an example of such a substance that Prevotella is good at producing. This is a short-chain fatty acid that provides energy to your intestinal cells and thus contributes to a healthy intestinal wall (or intestinal lining). Short-chain fatty acids can also help keep your immune system in balance.
Did you know that vitamin B2, or riboflavin, also plays an important role here? Prevotella can produce riboflavin itself and uses it as a building block for enzymes (proteins with a specific function) that help break down complex carbohydrates. In addition, riboflavin is released into the intestinal environment, where it can be shared with other bacteria and your own body. This vitamin is even involved in activating a certain type of immune cells (also known as MAIT cells) that train your immune system. And that’s a good thing, because it teaches your body how to distinguish between “friend” and “foe”. This means that only the real enemies are tackled and the beneficial bacteria are left alone. In this way, Prevotella helps to maintain peace in your intestines. In our VIAB2L study, the Isala daughter study with a central focus on vitamin B2, we want to investigate whether we can further enhance these beneficial effects, and we are doing this by supplementing riboflavin itself or lactobacilli that produce riboflavin to healthy women!
In short, this bacterium works hard behind the scenes to keep your digestion running smoothly and your immune system in balance!
What is this bacterium doing in my vagina?
We would like to tell you honestly that the dominance of this bacterium in the vagina is not the best news. Prevotella is sometimes linked to the development of chronic inflammation or irritation in your vagina. This bacterium can disrupt the acidity in your vagina, making you more susceptible to infection or inflammation. Prevotella seems to make little to no lactic acid.
But don’t panic. Not all types of Prevotella have these less ideal traits. Unfortunately, the technique used at Isala does not currently allow us to find out which Prevotella species is in your vagina: a favourable or less favourable one.
Very often we find this bacterium together with different types of lactobacilli. Those lactobacilli can help keep Prevotella in check. And as we’ve explained, your vaginal microbiome is somewhat dynamic. It could well be that the dominance of the Prevotella has already disappeared. The most important advice we can give you always remains the same: do you experience complaints or are you worried about something? Then contact your doctor. Within Isala we even have a separate page with more background information especially for doctors, so you can certainly refer to that.
What is this bacterium doing in my mouth?
Prevotella is part of the normal flora in the mouth. However, some specific species such as Prevotella oralis are mainly found when you have inflammation in the mouth.
What is this bacterium doing on my skin?
Prevotella are found not only in the vagina but also in low numbers in your saliva. On your skin this bacterium does not normally occur, it is often too dry there and Prevotella does not like oxygen. Yet we have found this bacterium in skin swabs at Isala. This makes sense, because the skin around your mouth often comes into contact with saliva and the skin in your groin area with vaginal fluid.
Does this bacterium occur elsewhere?
Yes, Prevotella is very common in saliva and your oral cavity and different types of this bacteria were also found in the vagina and the gut (such as in the large Flemish gut research project).