A clinical microbiologist with the National Hospital, Abuja, Dr Kenneth Iregbu, has advised women to use clean water to wash the vigina as against use of soap.

He gave the advice in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.

Iregbu said washing the vigina with soap could cause viginal discharge.

He said that many of the soaps women used contained alkaline substances, adding that such substances were detrimental to the well-being of the vagina.

"Washing the vagina does not require more than clean water. Most of the soap we use in bathing are alkaline, so when you use them there, they will alter something at least for some period.

"When women use a lot of cosmetics - alkaline materials - to wash their private parts right inside, you tend to distort the normal PH of the vagina, which is supposed to be acidic.

"So if you go on neutralising the acid by use of alkaline substances, you will encourage the growth of one group of organisms against the other, and could lead to some discharges.

Iregbu said discharges from a woman's vagina could either be normal or abnormal.

Iregbu said that abnormal discharge could also be caused by diseases like gonorrhea and trichomoniasis and infections like Candidiasis.

He said that such discharges could be whitish, greenish, yellowish or cheesy in colour, adding that some discharges came with an offensive odour. NAN