A randomized double-blind trial of tinidazole treatment of the sexual partners of females with bacterial vaginosis.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether a single oral 2-g dose of tinidazole for women with clinically diagnosed bacterial vaginosis and their partners increases the cure rates as compared with the same treatment for the female patients alone.

METHODS

During a 15-month period, 250 women aged 17-40 years who attended a gynecologic outpatient clinic for abnormal vaginal discharge and/or pruritus vulvae were randomized into two groups. They received a single oral dose of 2 g tinidazole while their partners received either 2 g tinidazole or placebo. Symptomatic improvement and clinical cure rates were assessed at 1 and 4 weeks after treatment.

RESULTS

There were no statistical differences (P > .05) in symptomatic improvement, clinical cure rates, or culture results between the groups of women whose partners were treated with either tinidazole or placebo. However, male consorts of women in the tinidazole group experienced side effects more often than those in the placebo group (P = .0006).

CONCLUSION

Routine treatment is not recommended for male partners of women with bacterial vaginosis.