Applied Microbiology: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus Infection in Female Transplant Recipients with Normal Cytology

Caroline Alves de Oliveira Martins, Isabel Cristina Chulvis Guimarães do Val and Luis Guillermo Coca Velarde

Objective: Our objective was to assess the prevalence of HPV infection in female transplant recipients with normal cytology. Material and Methods: Cross-sectional study with a sample population of 58 patients from the gynecology outpatient clinic of a tertiary public hospital. Transplant recipients with normal Pap smear and sexually active before their surgery were included. All study patients were given a complete gynecological exam and oncotic colpocytological exam, and cervical-vaginal matter was collected to test for HPV by PCR. The resulting data on prevalence were compared to the results found in the literature. For the multivariate analysis, we used logistic regression so as to identify the factors associated with the outcome of interest. Results: Of the 58 patients, 10 were excluded for presenting an abnormal oncotic colpocytology, and 4 for having had a hysterectomy. HPV infection prevalence was 45.5%. The most common high-risk HPV found was HPV 51. Upon comparing this result with those in the literature, we found a statistically significant difference with all of the articles that mentioned HPV infection prevalence in the general population with normal cytology. No statistical significance was found for the set of all factors in correlation with the outcome studied. Conclusion: The importance of this high prevalence of infection is clear in terms of the risk of developing intraepithelial neoplasia and cancer of the lower genital tract in female transplant recipients.