Abstract
Cervical cancer is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in women in Zimbabwe. This is mainly due to the high prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes in the population. So far, few studies have been done that showed the presence of high-risk genital HPV genotypes such as 16, 18, 31, 33, 52, 58 and 70 in Zimbabwean women with cervical cancer. The prevalence of HPV DNA in women with cervical cancer has been shown to range from 63% to 98%. The high-risk HPV 16, 18, 31, 33 and 58 were the most common genotypes in all the studies. The introduction of the new HPV vaccines, HPV2 and HPV4, which protect against HPV genotypes 16 and 18 into Zimbabwe is likely to go a long way in reducing deaths due to cervical cancer. However, there are few challenges to the introduction of the vaccines. The target population for HPV vaccination is at the moment not well-defined. The other challenge is that the current HPV vaccines confer only type-specific (HPV 16 and 18) immunity leaving a small proportion of Zimbabwean women unprotected against other high-risk HPV genotypes such as 31, 33 and 58. Future HPV vaccines such as the nanovalent vaccine will be more useful to Zimbabwe as they will protect women against more genotypes.
Highlights
Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are a group of highly ubiquitous double-stranded circular DNA viruses that infect cutaneous and mucosal surfaces [1]
It is well established that infection of the cervical tissue with the high-risk HPV genotypes is a necessary cause of cervical cancer in women [3,4,5]
Public knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer is still lacking in Zimbabwe
Summary
Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are a group of highly ubiquitous double-stranded circular DNA viruses that infect cutaneous and mucosal surfaces [1]. Risk factors of cervical cancer in Zimbabwe It is generally agreed that persistent infection by high-risk HPV genotypes is the major cause of cervical cancer [18]. The study highlighted some of the risk factors that predisposed women to HPV infection and the gaps in prevention of cervical cancer in Zimbabwe. Women infected with such genotypes will not be fully protected from getting cervical cancer by the current vaccines This challenge has been observed in other African countries such as Zambia, Cameroun, Mozambique and Senegal where other non-16 and 18 genotypes were prevalent [33,34,35,36]. Cervical cancer prevention and control through screening and HPV vaccination should be a national priority if women are to be saved from dying from cervical cancer, a preventable disease
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