Prevalence of human papillomavirus infection and its correlation with cervical lesions in commercial-sex workers in Japan.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prevalence of the human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and its correlation with cervical lesions in commercial-sex workers (CSWs) who attended a sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic in an entertainment area in Tokyo.


METHODS
Surveys were conducted on 546 prostitutes and 233 control subjects. In all subjects, HPV detection was performed by the hybrid capture method. A cervical cytological examination was performed on 247 prostitutes and 233 control subjects.


RESULTS
The HPV-positive rates in the two periods of study were higher (p < 0.01) in CSWs than in the control subjects. When the cytological grades were examined according to HPV-positive rates, the proportion of cytologic Class IIIa to Class IV was significantly higher (p < 0.01) in the HPV-positive CSWs than in the HPV-negative CSWs or in the normal subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
The high frequencies of HPV infection and cervical dysplasia in the CSWs in the present series might predict a higher risk of cervical cancer in this group of subjects.
Ishi
K
K
Department of Clinical Pathology, Juntendo University Urayasu Hospital, Chiba, Urayasu City, Japan.
Suzuki
F
F
Saito
A
A
Kubota
T
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000166:cytology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D015995:Prevalence; D011477:Sex Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D014041:Tokyo / Q000453:epidemiology; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D002577:Uterine Cervical Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology