Prevalence of human papillomavirus cervical infection in an Italian asymptomatic population.
BACKGROUND
In the last decade many studies have definitely shown that human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are the major cause of cervical carcinogenesis and, in the last few years, HPV testing has been proposed as a new and more powerful tool for cervical cancer screening. This issue is now receiving considerable attention in scientific and non scientific press and HPV testing could be considered the most important change in this field since the introduction of cervical cytology. This paper reports our prevalence data of HPV infection collected in the '90s, while a follow up of these patients is ongoing.


METHODS
For this study we used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to search HPV DNA sequences in cervical cell scrapings obtained from 503 asymptomatic women attending regular cervical cancer screening program in the city of Genova, Italy. All patients were also submitted to a self-administered, standardized, questionnaire regarding their life style and sexual activity. On the basis of the presence of HPV DNA sequences women were separated into two groups: "infected" and "non infected" and a statistical analysis of the factors potentially associated with the infection group membership was carried out.


RESULTS
The infection rate was 15.9% and the most frequent viral type was HPV 16.


CONCLUSIONS
Our HPV positivity rate (15.9%) was consistent to that reported by other studies on European populations.
Centurioni
Maria G
MG
Department of Surgical Therapies, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Largo Rosanna Benzi 10, 16100 Genova, Italy. mariagrazia.centurioni@istge.it
Puppo
Andrea
A
Merlo
Domenico F
DF
Pasciucco
Gennaro
G
Cusimano
Enzo R
ER
Sirito
Rodolfo
R
Gustavino
Claudio A
CA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D002577:Uterine Cervical Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*
D004279:DNA, Viral