Molecular genetic study to detect prevalence of high-risk human papilloma virus strains (type 16 and 18) in cervical lesions and asymptomatic healthy subjects of rural central India

Background: Carcinoma cervix of uterus (CaCx) is the most common malignancy affecting women worldwide. It is an established fact that infection of specific types of human papilloma virus (HPV) is essential for the development of cervical cancer. The present study reports the high-risk viruses (HPV 16 and 18) type distribution in rural central India, which has unique climatic condition. To our knowledge, no molecular study on HPV prevalence has been done in this region of rural population, this intended us do such study. Materials and Methods: Sexually active women reporting to the Gynecology were divided in three groups, first being asymptomatic women with normal cervix (52 cases), second group with benign cervical lesion (52 cases), and third group of women with frank cervical malignancy (40 cases). Cervical swabs were collected for HPV DNA sampling. The incidence of HPV positivity was recorded in each group. Results: Fifty-two women with asymptomatic normal cervix showed 44.23% positivity for HPV 16 and 5.76% positivity for HPV 18. Fifty-two women with benign cervical lesion showed 38.46% positivity for HPV 16 and 3.84% positivity for HPV 18. Forty women with frank cervical malignancy were with prevalence of 62.5% for HPV 16 and 22.5% for HPV 18. Conclusion: The results of the study are definitely helpful to know the prevalence of HPV in this region of rural population and will enrich the national epidemiological data related to HPV infection in cervical cancer.