Health & Medicine

These scientists have a plan to demystify the vaginal microbiome

Citizen scientists can help establish what’s a healthy baseline

Illustration of the female reproductive system surrounded by flowers and leaves.

Billions of bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses live in the vagina. But relatively little is known about these microbes and how they affect overall health.

Dusan Stankovic/Getty Images

By McKenzie Prillaman

The female body has often been overlooked in science, and the vagina remains the most taboo part of it.

This reproductive organ houses billions of bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses in a complex community crucial for overall health.