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Testing for human papillomavirus and measurement of viral load of HPV 16 and 18 in self‐collected vaginal swabs of women who do not undergo cervical cytological screening in Southern France
Author(s) -
Tamalet Catherine,
Richet Hervé,
Carcopino Xavier,
Henry Mireille,
Leretraite Laurence,
Heid Patrice,
Leandri FrançoisXavier,
SanchoGarnier Hélène,
Piana Lucien
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.21835
Subject(s) - virology , human papillomavirus , viral load , papillomaviridae , cervical cancer , medicine , viral disease , biology , virus , cancer
Self‐sampling using vaginal swabs could be a valuable alternative to screen for cervical cancer for women who do not attend regular cytological screening. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of high and low‐risk HPV types and of HPV type 16 and 18 DNA load in self‐collected vaginal swabs from 35‐ to 69‐year‐old Southern French women of low socioeconomic level or migrant populations who do not attend regular cervical screening. A good concordance (93.1%) was found between cervical brush and vaginal swabs in 29 samples. Self‐collected vaginal swabs were examined from 120 women. HPV infection was found in 28 women (23.3%; median age 48 years), 17 (14.1%) of whom harbored high‐risk HPV types. HPV type 16 was the high risk type found most frequently, followed by types 53, 31, 18, 58, and 66. The low‐risk type detected most frequently was HPV type 6, followed by types 61, 70, and 81. The mean HPV 16 and 18 load was 6.3 log 10 copies/10 6 cells and 2.4 log 10 copies/10 6 cells, respectively. These results suggest that vaginal self‐swabs can be a reliable tool for cervical cancer screening in non‐attending and inadequately screened elderly women. J. Med. Virol. 82:1431–1437, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.