Cervical Human Papillomavirus DNA Research Articles

Human Papillomavirus DNA in Unselected Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Women

Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA is associated with genital squamous cell neoplasia, especially types 16, 18, and 31. Several studies, using histopathology and DNA hybridization, have shown an increased prevalence of cervical HPV DNA in pregnant women. We determined the prevalence of HPV DNA and the distribution of specific HPV DNA types in exfoliated cervical cells from 748 randomly selected pregnant and 503 non-pregnant women, using a dot blot DNA hybridization technique. The prevalence of HPV DNA was 9.6% in pregnant women and 8.9% in non-pregnant women. Thus, we found no evidence of higher prevalence of HPV DNA in pregnant women. HPV DNA types 16/18 and 31/33/35 were more common than types 6/11. The prevalence of HPV DNA was highest (15%) in the youngest age groups suggesting an association between young age and the prevalence of HPV DNA.

Prevalence of Genital Papillomavirus Infection Among Women Attending a College Student Health Clinic or a Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic

We examined 454 women randomly selected from a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Clinic and 545 consecutive college women undergoing annual examination. Patients were examined for visible genital warts, koilocytes, and human papillomavirus (HPV) antigen on cervical smears and for cervical HPV DNA types 6, 11, 16, 18, and 31. Genital warts were found in 11% of STD Clinic patients and 2% of students (P less than .001). Among those women without genital warts, HPV DNA or antigen was detected in cervical specimens from 10.6% of STD Clinic patients and 11.4% of students (P = .73), with HPV type 16, 18, or 31 being 9.8 times more frequent than cervical HPV 6 or 11 among students and 5.8 times more frequent among STD Clinic patients. Dysplasia was present in 53% of those with HPV type 6 or 11 and in 41% of those with HPV type 16, 18, or 31 DNA.