title: Testing for human papillomavirus and measurement of viral load of HPV 16 and 18 in self-collected vaginal swabs of women who do not undergo cervical cytological screening in Southern France.
abstract: Self-sampling using vaginal swabs could be a valuable alternative to screen for cervical cancer for women who do not attend regular cytological screening. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of high and low-risk HPV types and of HPV type 16 and 18 DNA load in self-collected vaginal swabs from 35- to 69-year-old Southern French women of low socioeconomic level or migrant populations who do not attend regular cervical screening. A good concordance (93.1%) was found between cervical brush and vaginal swabs in 29 samples. Self-collected vaginal swabs were examined from 120 women. HPV infection was found in 28 women (23.3%; median age 48 years), 17 (14.1%) of whom harbored high-risk HPV types. HPV type 16 was the high risk type found most frequently, followed by types 53, 31, 18, 58, and 66. The low-risk type detected most frequently was HPV type 6, followed by types 61, 70, and 81. The mean HPV 16 and 18 load was 6.3 log(10) copies/10(6) cells and 2.4 log(10) copies/10(6) cells, respectively. These results suggest that vaginal self-swabs can be a reliable tool for cervical cancer screening in non-attending and inadequately screened elderly women.
authors.affiliation: Fédération de Bactériologie-Hygiène-Virologie, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Timone, Marseille, France. ctamalet@ap-hm.fr
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tamalet
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Richet
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Carcopino
authors.forename: Mireille
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Leretraite
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Heid
authors.forename: François-Xavier
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Leandri
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sancho-Garnier
authors.forename: Lucien
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Piana
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D052162:Human papillomavirus 16 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D052161:Human papillomavirus 18 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D015995:Prevalence; D012646:Self Administration; D014621:Vagina / Q000821:virology*; D019562:Viral Load