What Increases Your Risk

Factors that increase your risk of getting bacterial vaginosis include:

• Starting sexual activity at a young age.
• Having multiple sex partners.
• Having a female sex partner.⁵
• Smoking.
• Douching.

Although bacterial vaginosis can be triggered by or get worse from sexual activity, it does not appear to be an infection that is passed from man to woman. Therefore, experts do not consider bacterial vaginosis to be a male-female sexually transmitted disease. It is possible but not proven that bacterial vaginosis is passed from woman to woman during sexual contact.