ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) types in South African women with normal cervical cytology and to determine whether our results are comparable to what has been found elsewhere in the world. DESIGN: Cervical smears were collected from 262 women. SETTING: The Cape Town metropolitan area. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 262 women, aged 19-85 years. Eighty-five women attended the family planning clinic of the Gynaecology Department at Groote Schuur Hospital and 177 women consulted private gynaecological practices. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The prevalence and types of HPV in 192 women with normal cervical cytology. RESULTS: The incidence of HPV DNA in cervical smears from Cape Town women with normal cytology was found to be 13% (25/192) using Southern blot hybridisation. The types of HPV found in normal cervical tissue from Cape Town did not differ significantly from those found elsewhere in the world. Nine per cent (17/192) were positive for "high-risk' HPV types which are associated with premalignant and malignant cervical lesions. In the age group 20-39 years, 15 of 92 (16%) were positive for HPV DNA, while in the age group above 39 years, 3 of 53 (6%) women were positive for HPV DNA. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, 25 of 192 (13%) women with normal cytology were positive for HPV.
Subject(s)
Cervix Uteri/cytology , DNA, Viral/analysis , Papillomaviridae/isolation & purification , Vaginal Smears , Blotting, Southern , Female , Humans , Papillomavirus Infections/epidemiology , Sequence Analysis, DNA , South AfricaABSTRACT
A 297 bp fragment of the HPV 16 L1 gene was sequenced from 35 isolates originating from normal cervical scrapes, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia biopsies and cervical carcinoma biopsies from South African women. A total of six point mutations that differed from the prototype HPV 16 sequence were detected in various combinations, giving rise to six distinct types of variants. Only one of the isolates had a sequence identical to the prototype. Our results indicate that the HPV L1 gene is conserved and there is no evidence that specific viral HPV L1 variants are associated with specific pathology.
