Abstract
Various Human papillomavirus (HPV) types cause cervical cancer, and represent the primary cause of cancer death in Africa and the second cause of most common cancers in Cameroon. Herein, we determined the prevalence of high-risk HPV types in women and associated cervical cytologic abnormalities in Yaounde, Cameroon. A cross-sectional study targeting HPV-positive women aged 20 and over was conducted between March and June 2020 at the Saint Martin de Porres' Health Centre in Yaounde. HPV tests were performed by PCR for detection of HPVs 16, 18, 33, and 45. The test was performed on 616 women using exfoliated cell specimens; then, we processed on cytological diagnosis with Pap smears on HPV positive specimens. The HPV types tested were detected in 137 participants, of which 38.7% with multiple HPV infections, and the remaining part with single HPV infections of type HPV 16 (28.5%), HPV 18 (17.5%), HPV 33 (10.2%), and HPV 45 (5.1%). Cervical cytologic abnormalities were found in 69.34% of participants including: LSIL (49.63%), HSIL (15.32%), ASC-US (3.66%) and AGC (0.73%). Co-infections with HPV 16 and HPV 18 were significantly associated with HSIL (p = 0.001) lesions, while HPV 45 was more common in participants with normal cytology (p = 0.001). Cervical lesion occurrence was significantly associated with the number of sexual partners (p = 0.02) and history of oral contraceptive pill use (p = 0.001). Our results suggest that HPV 16 and 18 are predominant in Yaounde, and are associated with more severe precancerous lesions.
Highlights
Various Human papillomavirus (HPV) types cause cervical cancer, and represent the primary cause of cancer death in Africa and the second cause of most common cancers in Cameroon
HPV 16, and in a lesser extent, HPV 18 are predominant and mainly found in co-infections with other HPV types. It is well-established that HPV 16 and 18 are the most common HPV types worldwide, accounting for more than 70% of cervical cancer cases, as well as other cancers associated with HPV infections [10,11,12]
The peak of HPV infections was found in women aged between 20 and 39
Summary
Various Human papillomavirus (HPV) types cause cervical cancer, and represent the primary cause of cancer death in Africa and the second cause of most common cancers in Cameroon. We determined the prevalence of high-risk HPV types in women and associated cervical cytologic abnormalities in Yaounde, Cameroon. The test was performed on 616 women using exfoliated cell specimens; we processed on cytological diagnosis with Pap smears on HPV positive specimens. Co-infections with HPV 16 and HPV 18 were significantly associated with HSIL (p = 0.001) lesions, while HPV 45 was more common in participants with normal cytology (p = 0.001). Persistent infections with high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) induce the development of cervical precancerous and cancerous lesions [1]. HPV vaccines were developed, such as: (i) Cervarix, a bivalent recombinant vaccine targeting HPV 16 and 18; (ii) Gardasil, which is used in the prevention of HPVs 6, 11, 16, and 18; and (iii) the nanovalent vaccine Gardasil 9 used to prevent
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