ABSTRACT
This curved, anaerobic, motile, rod-shaped gram-negative organism is primarily found in the vagina of women with bacterial vaginosis, although due to its refractoriness to cultivation on artificial media, it may be present in the vaginal flora in low concentrations more often than available reports indicate. Most reports in the literature report on the presence of Mobiluncus through Gram-stained vaginal smears (Mobiluncus curtisii being described as short, curved rods and Mobiluncus mulieris is described as long, curved rods), although it must be noted that the identification of an organism to the genus level is not technically possible with Gram’s stain only. Moreover, identification of the organism by Gram’s stain requires a certain degree of skill on the part of the microscopist; and such skill is not universally honed by the majority of gynecologists.This caveat must be applied to much of the information currently available on the organism that has observations based solely on microscopy.
