ABSTRACT
Cervical cancer is the most frequent malignant tumour of women in Latin America being human papillomavirus (HPV) the main cause. The aim of this study was to increase the knowledge about the cervical infections with oncogenic HPV types (HR-HPV) in Asuncion, Paraguay. Two hundred and seventy-two cervical samples were analyzed using hybrid capture II assay (HCA II) for HR-HPV. The frequency of HR-HPV in the study group was 44 percent. HR-HPV was detected in 25 percent of the women negative for squamous intraepithelial lesions (NSIL), 72 percent with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS), 68 percent with low SIL and 78 percent with high SIL. A moderate concordance was observed between HCA II assay and cytology (kappa: 0.43 IC95 percent 0.3 - 0.5). It was detected a high frequency of HR-HPV in women from 11 to 30 years old and in those over 60 years old. The data obtained in this study showed a high frequency of HR-HPV in woman with NSIL and ASCUS, which corroborate that the use of cytology together with HCA II assay for HR-HPV could improve remarkably the efficiency of screening programs of cervical cancer in Paraguay. Furthermore, these findings point out the need for the periodical follow-up of HR-HPV infections in older women.