Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 May 15;18(1):562.
doi: 10.1186/s12885-018-4438-y.

Low-cost HPV testing and the prevalence of cervical infection in asymptomatic populations in Guatemala

Hong Lou  1 , Eduardo Gharzouzi  2 , Sarita Polo Guerra  2 , Joël Fokom Domgue  3 , Julie Sawitzke  1 , Guillermo Villagran  2 , Lisa Garland  1 , Joseph F Boland  1 , Sarah Wagner  1 , Héctor Rosas  4 , Jami Troxler  5 , Heidi McMillen  5 , Bailey Kessing  5 , Enrique Alvirez  6 , Miriam Castillo  2 , Hesler Morales  2 , Victor Argueta  7 , Andert Rosingh  8 , Femke J H B van Aerde-van Nunen  8 , Griselda Lopez  7 , Herbert M Pinedo  9 , Mark Schiffman  3 , Michael Dean  10 , Roberto Orozco  7
Affiliations

Low-cost HPV testing and the prevalence of cervical infection in asymptomatic populations in Guatemala

Hong Lou et al. BMC Cancer. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: A low cost and accurate method for detecting high-risk (HR) human papillomavirus (HPV) is important to permit HPV testing for cervical cancer prevention. We used a commercially available HPV method (H13, Hybribio) which was documented to function accurately in a reduced volume of cervical specimen to determine the most prevalent HPV types and the distribution of HPV infections in over 1795 cancer-free women in Guatemala undergoing primary screening for cervical cancer by cytology.

Methods: HR-HPV detection was attempted in cervical samples from 1795 cancer-free women receiving Pap smears using the Hybribio™ real-time PCR assay of 13 HR types. The test includes a globin gene internal control. HPV positive samples were sequenced to determine viral type. Age-specific prevalence of HPV was also assessed in the study population.

Results: A total of 13% (226/1717) of women tested HPV+, with 78 samples (4.3%) failing to amplify the internal control. The highest prevalence was found in younger women (< 30 years, 22%) and older ones (≥60 years, 15%). The six most common HR-HPV types among the 148 HPV+ typed were HPV16 (22%), HPV18 (11%), HPV39 (11%), HPV58 (10%), HPV52 (8%), and HPV45 (8%).

Conclusions: In this sample of cancer free women in Guatemala, HPV16 was the most prevalent HR type in Guatemala and the age-specific prevalence curve peaked in younger ages. Women in the 30-59-year age groups had a prevalence of HR-HPV of 8%, however, larger studies to better describe the epidemiology of HPV in Guatemala are needed.

Keywords: Cervical cancer; Guatemala; HPV; Prevalence; Real-time PCR; Screening.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the ethics committee of the Hospital General San Juan de Dios, and the Instituto de Cancerologia, Guatemala and testing in the US laboratory was judged exempt by the NIH Office of Human Studies Research. All subjects signed an approved informed consent form.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Age specific prevalence of HR-HPV by age group in Guatemala. The prevalence of HR-HPV in asymptomatic women in Guatemala is displayed by age group. Error bars show 95% confidence intervals for HPV+ percentage. The number of total women in each age group is shown in Table 2
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Flow chart of participants and associated HPV test outcomes. The flow chart of samples through the analyses is shown
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Valles X, Murga GB, Hernandez G, Sabido M, Chuy A, Lloveras B, Alameda F, de San Jose S, Bosch FX, Pedroza I, et al. High prevalence of human papillomavirus infection in the female population of Guatemala. Int J Cancer. 2009;125(5):1161–1167. doi: 10.1002/ijc.24444. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ngelangel C, Munoz N, Bosch FX, Limson GM, Festin MR, Deacon J, Jacobs MV, Santamaria M, Meijer CJ, Walboomers JM. Causes of cervical cancer in the Philippines: a case-control study. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1998;90(1):43–49. doi: 10.1093/jnci/90.1.43. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Smith JS, Lindsay L, Hoots B, Keys J, Franceschi S, Winer R, Clifford GM. Human papillomavirus type distribution in invasive cervical cancer and high-grade cervical lesions: a meta-analysis update. Int J Cancer. 2007;121(3):621–632. doi: 10.1002/ijc.22527. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bouvard V, Baan R, Straif K, Grosse Y, Secretan B, El Ghissassi F, Benbrahim-Tallaa L, Guha N, Freeman C, Galichet L, et al. A review of human carcinogens--part B: biological agents. Lancet Oncol. 2009;10(4):321–322. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(09)70096-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Arbyn M, Raifu AO, Weiderpass E, Bray F, Anttila A. Trends of cervical cancer mortality in the member states of the European Union. Eur J Cancer. 2009;45(15):2640–2648. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2009.07.018. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms