Human papillomavirus DNA typing in the cervical specimens among women of Split and Dalmatian County

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the main cause of cervical cancer, the second most common cancer in women worldwide. More than 200 types of HPV have been described, and within this range more than 40 types attack epithelium of genital tract. The types that were most commonly related to the development of cervical cancer are called high-risk types (HR HPV). There are very few studies about HPV prevalence in Croatia and there is an absolute lack of data for Split and Dalmatian County. Therefore, during a 6 month period, we routinely screened 570 women for HPV DNA at the Educational Public Health Institute of Split and Dalmatian County. HR HPV was detected in cervical exfoliated cells, by using Hybrid Capture 2 HPV DNA test. Out of the total number of tested women, 200 (35%) of them were positive to HR HPV Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based assays were employed for HR HPV genotyping in positive specimens. The following frequency was observed: HPV 16 in 10%, HPV 18 in 6.1%, HPV 31 in 2.6%, HPV 33 in 1.9%, HPV 52 in 1.4%, HPV 59 in 0.7%, HPV 45 in 0.4% specimens, while 11.9% of tested specimens currently remained untyped. It is necessary to expand this study to a larger number of women, in order to better evaluate genital HPV types distribution among women in this region.