title: Prevalence of human papillomavirus infection in rural villages of the Bolivian Amazon.
abstract: Cervical cancer constitutes a major health problem in developing countries like Bolivia. The roles of certain genotypes of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) in the pathogenesis of cervical cancer is well established. The prevalence of HPV infection among sexually active women varies greatly. Information regarding HPV infection in Bolivia is very much scarce, specially in regions like the Amazonian lowland. We studied 135 healthy women living in four rural localities of the Bolivian Amazon. Presence of HPV in DNA extracted from cervical swabs was analyzed using a reverse line hybridization assay. The estimated overall HPV infection prevalence among the studied rural localities was 5.9% (ranging from 0-16.6%). These values were unexpectedly low considering Bolivia has a high incidence of cervical cancer. The fact that Amazonian people seem to be less exposed to HPV, makes it likely that some other risk factors including host lifestyle behaviors and genetic background may be involved in the development of cervical cancer in this population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cervantes
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lema
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hurtado
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Andrade
authors.forename: Gladys
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Quiroga
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Torricos
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zegarra
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vera
authors.forename: Wilge
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Panoso
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arteaga
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: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hurtado Gomez
authors.forename: Shunro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sonoda
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001838:Bolivia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D027383:Papillomaviridae; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014626:Vaginal Smears