Prevalence and Possible Risk Factors for Human Papilloma Virus Among HIV Infected Women

Abstract

Human papilloma viruses (HPV), are DNA viruses that infect the cutaneous and mucosal epithelia, manifesting as non-genital or genital warts, and pre invasive and invasive lesions. HPVs infecting the anogenital tract are divided into high risk and low risk types, based on their association with malignant or benign disease. A cross sectional study involving 50 HIV-I infected females randomly recruited from the HIV clinic of St Charles Borromeo Hospital Onitsha was conducted. Ethical approval was obtained then blood and cervical swab samples were collected. The following were determined; HIV screening and confirmation, CD4 count, and HPV. Data analysis was carried out using the SPSS version 20. Out of the 50 women who were screened for the presence of HPV genotypes, 3(6%) were positive for various HPV genotypes and were aged 25-44 years. Only the participant’s CD4 count was found to be significant for acquisition of HPV infection with P<0.05. This relates only to those with CD4 < 200cells/mm3 and 200-350 cells/mm3. The participant’s age range and WHO stage of disease were not significant risk factors for acquisition of HPV infection with P>0.05. Finally, high risk HPVs were more prevalent in the population studied, therefore it may be wise to administer HPV vaccines to younger uninfected females since it is protective for the dominant high risk groups. It is also recommended that this research be carried out on a larger scale so that more HPV genotypes circulating in the society can be discovered to aid the production of update vaccines.