Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus infection among Congolese Women with Normal Cervical Cytology

To determine the HPV infection prevalence among Congolese women with normal cervical cytology in southwestern Congo, in order to establish a data baseline necessary to improve the HPV infections prevention and screening. Between November 2010 and February 2011, cervical samples of 219 women attending the General Hospital of Loandjili who had a normal cervical smear dated less than one year in cytopathological Unit register were investigated. Liquid based cytology samples were obtained using a cytobrush. A portion of the sample was used to confirm the cytological diagnosis and another one for the HPV detection by nested-PCR and direct sequencing. Overall, 204 women were included. HPV prevalence was 23.5 % (48). HR-HPV and LR-HPV infection was detected in 29 (60.4 %) and 19 (39.6 %) of study participants respectively. Thirteen HPV genotypes were identified. The most common genotypes were HPV16, 13 (27 %), HPV70, 8 (16.6 %), HPV33 and HPV6, 5 (10.4 %). A decreasing trend of HPV infection was observed as the age increases, 38.6 % below 30 years to 11.1 % over 60 years (p=0, 379). Conclusion HPV prevalence among Congolese study women with normal cervical cytology was high. Knowledge of the type-specific HPV distribution in women with normal cytology could help to establish the frequency in the cytological monitoring of women between two screenings.