Relationship of human papilloma virus infection and abnormal pap smear in human immunodeficiency virus infected women and tendency to develop cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

ABSTRACT

In HIV infected women, persistent human papilloma virus infection in their cervical tissue was found to have a direct relationship with the development of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in their Pap smear examinations. In this study, we recruited 150 HIV infected women, whose major age-range was found to be between 20-35 years old (63.3%). HPV-DNA testing was positive in 55 cases, while Pap smear examinations were found to be abnormal in 25 cases (43.3%). Abnormal Pap smears were found atypical squamous cell of undeterminated significant (ASCUS) in 7 cases, low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) 14 cases, and high-grade intraepithelial lesion 6 cases. A cervical biopsy was done in only 16 cases. Among them, 6 were found to have either moderate or higher-grade dysplasia. This study indicated that HIV infected women who had positive HPV-DNA testing were more likely to have abnormal Pap smears and had a tendency to develop moderate or higher grade of cervical dysplasia.