Features of HPV infection among the healthy attendants of gynecological practice in St. Petersburg, Russia

Prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection was estimated in women f rom St. Petersburg, Russia. The study included 309 attendants of gynecologi cal practice, who met the following criteria: (1) history of sexual activit y; (2) reproductive age; (3) lack of evidence for a specific disease of the genital tract or a current pregnancy; and (4) no cervical abnormalities re vealed by cytological examination. Papillomavirus detection was carried out by PCR using MY09/11 primers. Ninety (29%) females turned out to be HPV-po sitive. HPV presence did not correlate with the current age, age at the sex ual debut, or time interval since the first intercourse. However, women wit h the history of more than two contraceptive abortions had a higher prevale nce of papillomavirus infection as compared to the remaining group (30/66 ( 45%) vs. 56/207 (27%); P = 0.005; OR = 2.25 (1.27-3.97)), HPV genotyping pr ocedure involved reverse dot-blot hybridization and restriction endonucleas e analysis. High-risk, low-risk and non-identified viruses were detected in 58, 26, and 16% of the positive samples, respectively. HPV16 was the most prevalent type, being present alone in 21% of the infected women, and in co mbination with other HPVs in 5% of the virus-positive females. No other pap illomavirus types showed exceptionally prominent prevalence. The data sugge st that HPV occurrence among Russian women is within the range of world-wid e variations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.