Description
Gardnerella is a genus of Gram-variable bacteria of which Gardnerella vaginalis is the only species. Once classified as Haemophilus vaginalis and afterwards as Corynebacterium vaginalis.
G. vaginalis is not considered the cause of the bacterial vaginosis, but a signal organism of the altered microbial ecology associated with overgrowth of many bacterial species. G. vaginalis produces a pore-forming toxin, vaginolysin, which affects only human cells.