title: Incidental Findings of Bacterial Vaginosis and Other Infections in Papanicolaou Smears of HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected Adolescent Females in South Africa.
abstract: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a widely prevalent infection that is associated with a range of adverse outcomes. We compared the rates of incidentally identified BV and other cervico-vaginal infections on Papanicolaou (Pap) smears of HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected adolescent females in South Africa. Cervical specimens from 50 HIV-uninfected and 32 HIV-infected sexually active South African adolescent females age 17-21 were collected and analyzed in accordance with the Bethesda system. We found a high overall prevalence of BV (54.9%) in our cohort. While previous research has found an increased prevalence of BV among HIV-infected women, the difference in the prevalence of BV between our HIV-infected group (62.5%) and HIV-uninfected group (50.0%) was not found to be statistically significant. The high rate of BV in both of these groups has significant implications for their risk of HIV acquisition and/or transmission in addition to other associated risks of BV. Given that the Pap smear is specific in incidentally diagnosing BV, it may be utilized as a screening method for BV in the adolescent population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester NY, United States.
authors.forename: Alexie C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Puran
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester NY, United States.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.affiliation: Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.affiliation: Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Thola
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bennie
authors.affiliation: Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Phuti
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester NY, United States.
authors.forename: Beau
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Abar
authors.affiliation: Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Linda-Gail
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Bekker
keywords: HIV; Papanicolaou smear; South Africa; adolescents; bacterial vaginosis