Human papillomavirus, pregnancy and HIV infection

Abstract

Evaluation of: Minkoff H, Xian LS, Watts HD et al. Relationship of pregnancy to human papillomavirus among human immunodeficiency virus-infected women. Obstet. Gynecol. 108[4], 953–960 [2006].The relationships that exist between human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and pregnancy remain controversial and have rarely been properly investigated in the context of HIV infection. The paper under discussion presents important data on the effect of pregnancy on the natural history of HPV infection obtained from two US cohorts of HIV-infected women, who were either pregnant at enrollment or became pregnant during follow-up. The results indicate that cervical HPV prevalence and HPV DNA viral loads are not increased during pregnancy in HIV-infected women and that incident HPV detection is significantly lower during pregnancy when compared with the postpregnancy period. These results suggest that the immune suppression and changes in vaginal milieu associated with pregnancy are of little importance compared with immu...