Prevalence of IgG Antibodies against Human Papillomavirus (HPV) type 6, 11, 16, and 18 Virus-Like Particles in Women of Childbearing Age in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Most HPV prevalence studies have been carried out in high-resource countries with few studies focused on low-resource regions where highest HPV prevalence in the world occurs. This study reports on prevalence of IgG antibodies against HPVs among women of childbearing age in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. One hundred and eighty-two consented women (age-range 19–45 years) were consecutively recruited. Demographic/behavioral data and 5 mL blood samples were collected from each woman. Plasma of each sample was assayed for HPV-6/11/16/18 virus-like particles using a HPV IgG ELISA kit. The overall anti-HPV prevalence was 4.9% while 7.7% with itching/wound in the private part tested positive. Most (88.9%) of the seropositive women were sexually active. Group-specific seropositivity was low (0.0–10.0%). It also showed that all the 9(100.0%) who tested positive to the HPV responded “yes” to no information on the source of HPV information. Being younger, married, high educational level, religion, and lack of information on HPV were the main correlates of HPV positivity among these women. None was vaccinated and would have been naturally exposed to at least one of HPV-6/11/16/18. With 4.9% seropositivity and lack of information regarding HPV among these women, this study recommends a statewide enlightenment campaign and vaccination.