Why does the vagina smell fishy?

Because of the special structure of female reproductive organs, odor may appear in daily life due to various reasons, some of which are due to hygiene and some are caused by diseases. The fishy smell from the vagina indicates a strong odor, which is embarrassing and makes people worry that they may have a gynecological disease. There are many reasons why the vagina has a fishy smell. We can first have a general understanding of them. So, what is the reason for the fishy smell in the vagina? Let’s take a look below.

Some young women have increased vaginal discharge, which often has a foul odor; after each sexual intercourse, the vagina also emits an unpleasant fishy odor. They are very anxious about this. What is the reason for the bad smell in the lower body? It turns out that bacterial vaginosis is the cause.

It is not called vaginitis but vaginosis because there is no inflammatory reaction in the vaginal mucosa and white blood cells are rarely detected in vaginal secretions. Therefore, it was officially named bacterial vaginosis by medical organizations in 1984.

The bacteria that cause bacterial vaginosis are mainly Gardnerella vaginalis. Gardnerella is anaerobic and can grow easily in the vagina. The growth temperature of Gardnerella is 25-40℃, and the optimal temperature for reproduction in the human body is 35-37℃.

Since vaginal lactobacilli in the vagina of adult women can break down the glycogen contained in the vaginal epithelial cells into lactic acid, keeping the vaginal secretions acidic (pH 4-5), and the acidic environment is not conducive to the growth and reproduction of Gardnerella, even if 60% of healthy women carry vaginal Gardnerella, no clinical symptoms will appear.

Once the vaginal environment and acidity change, such as repeated vaginal douching, drug abuse, etc., Gardnerella and certain anaerobic bacteria will multiply in large numbers.

It is reported that when suffering from bacterial vaginosis, Gardnerella and anaerobic bacteria are mixed in the patient's vagina, which increases 100 to 1000 times compared with the vagina of normal healthy women.

After intercourse, the alkaline semen (pH 7.2-7.5) enters the vagina, further promoting the growth and reproduction of Gardnerella and anaerobic bacteria, causing the release of a large amount of amines, so the vagina emits a corrupt fishy smell.