Follow-up evaluation of cervicovaginal human papillomavirus infection in adolescents

We performed a second examination for human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA on 51 sexually experienced 13- to 21-year-old (mean=17.8 years) female patients seen at an urban teaching hospital. Cervicovaginal lavages were performed 6 to 36 months apart (median=13.3 months) to collect cells for HPV DNA detection and typing by Southern blot hybridization. At the first and second visits, 39.2% (20/51) and 25.5% (13/51) of patients, respectively, were infected with HPV. Collectively, 56.9% (29/51) of patients had at least one positive HPV test result. Although 7.8% (4/51) were infected with HPV at both visits, only one patient had infection with the same HPV type. These findings suggest that although HPV infection is a common sexually transmitted disease, genotype-specific HPV infection detected by Southern blot at two visits was rare.