title: Human Papillomavirus Infection among Bolivian Amazonian Women.
abstract: Cervical cancer is the most common malignancy among women in Latin America. Human papilloma virus infection is known to be an important risk factor. However, HPV infection among Bolivian women has not yet been fully evaluated. The present study aimed to investigate HPV infection among women living in a rural region of the Bolivian Amazon. Cervical swab samples were collected from 151 healthy women in three Amazonian villages. From every woman, two samples were collected by cotton swab; one for cytological examination and the other for ethanol-preservation of cervical epithelial cells for HPV DNA testing. High molecular DNA was extracted from the ethanol-preserved cervical epithelial cells and tested for HPV DNA by a PCR-RFLP protocol. Ethanol-preserved cervical epithelial cells remained suitable for DNA isolation and PCR amplification of human b-globin and HPV E6/E7 genes, 25 days after sample collection in the field. HPV-31, HPV-58 and HPV-6 were detected in the studied population. The overall prevalence of HPV infection among Bolivian Amazonian women was 8.0%. Neither dual nor multiple HPV infections were found in any of the positive samples. This is the first report of HPV prevalence and type distribution among Bolivian Amazonian women. Our new method for preservation of cervical epithelial cells in ethanol may be useful for viro-epidemiological studies in rural areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan. sonoda1@m2.kufm.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Carolina H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lema
authors.forename: Luisa Valentina
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Hurtado
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Segurondo
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dulon
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Asturizaga
authors.forename: Wilmer
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Panoso
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Toshinobu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujiyoshi
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yashiki
authors.forename: Hong-Chuan
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cervantes
authors.forename: Luis Hurtado
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.forename: Shunro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sonoda