HIGH-RATE OF MULTIPLE GENITAL HPV INFECTIONS DETECTED BY DNA HYBRIDIZATION

Cervical smears collected from 450 patients involved in a clinical fol low-up of cervical human papillomaviruses (HPV) infections were screen ed for the presence of HPV 6b, 11, 16, and 18 DNA by both dot blot and southern blot hybridization methods. Using very high stringency hybri dization assays, the four HPV types could be easily distinguished by d ot blotting. After a preliminary clinical sorting, 42.9% of the sample s were found to be HPV-positive. Among the samples infected by a singl e HPV, type 16 was the most frequent (25.4% of the positive samples) f ollowed by 6b (19.7%), 11 (8.3%), and 18 (7.2%). Double or even multip le infections by the different HPV types were detected at a very high rate (39.4% of the positive samples).