Prevalence of human papillomavirus infection among young women in North India.
BACKGROUND
The number of women infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) and the distribution of the HPV genotypes vary across populations and with age.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence and genotype distribution of HPV in young married women aged 16-24 years.


METHODS
1300 women residing in an urban slum in Delhi donated samples of exfoliated cervical cells that were collected by the Digene((R)) kit and tested for the presence of HPV DNA by two techniques in parallel, i.e., PCR using PGMY consensus primers for all HPV types and the Digene HPV test (Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) Probe B for high-risk (hr) types. Genotyping was done on all HPV positive samples using the Roche reverse line blot assay.


RESULTS
HPV infection was detected in 91/1300 (7%) samples by PCR and 110/1300 (8.4%) samples by HC2. Genotyping identified 20 high-risk and 11 low-risk types. HPV16 was the commonest high-risk type (3%) followed by HPV52 (1.2%) and HPV51 (0.8%). Among low-risk types, HPV62 was the commonest (0.8%), followed by HPV84 and HPV89 (0.5% each). Multiple infections were found in 3% of the HPV positive samples.


CONCLUSIONS
A wide spectrum of HPV genotypes is seen in this young population. Knowledge about HPV types prevalent in communities in different regions of India would be useful in devising the optimum strategy for cervical cancer prevention.
Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India.
Palika
P
Datta
Neerja
N
Bhatla
Lalit
L
Dar
A Rajkumar
AR
Patro
Arti
A
Gulati
Alka
A
Kriplani
Neeta
N
Singh
D000293:Adolescent; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology; D055815:Young Adult; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology
D004279:DNA, Viral