ABSTRACT
Background: The relationship among HIV, HPV, and development of CIN is complex and incompletely understood. Present study is undertaken to find out the prevalence and relationship of abnormal cervical cytology and HPV infection in HIV positive women.Methods: This was a cross-sectional, case control study conducted on 95 HIV seropositive and 95 seronegative women. Specimen was collected from the cervix for HPV DNA testing, subtyping and cytology.Results: HPV DNA positivity was higher in seropositive group (18.6% vs. 7.4%). Premalignant conditions were found only in seropositive group. At CD4 count <249 HPV DNA positivity was 53%, at 250-499 the percentage of HPV DNA positivity was 31% and at >500 HPV DNA positivity was 19%.Conclusions: Prevalence of abnormal cytology and HPV DNA positivity is higher amongst HIV positive women and there is an association between HPV DNA positivity with lower CD4 counts.
ABSTRACT
Cervical cancer is the second-most common cancer in women worldwide causing most cancer related deaths in women in developing countries including India. The most predominant etiological factor for cervical cancer is persistent infection of certain high-risk types of human papillomaviruses (HR-HPVs), while low-risk types are associated with benign cervical lesions and genital warts. In India, the most common (98%) oncogenic types are HPV types 16 and 18 with HPV 16 exclusively (80-90%) prevalent. Two recently developed virus-like particle (VLP) based prophylactic HPV vaccines, quadrivalent Gardasil (HPV 16/18/6/11) and Cervarix (HPV 16/18) offer great promise. Several other therapeutic vaccines are also in clinical trials and are yet to establish their efficacy. The use of already developed VLP vaccines in resource-poor regions is limited by several factors, most importantly the high cost of the vaccine. Therefore efforts are being made in India to develop cost-effective second-generation vaccines. Besides cost, there are several socio-cultural and ethical issues involved with the implementation of already developed vaccines including the acceptability of HPV vaccination by preadolescent girls and their parents in India.