HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS INFECTIONS IN A ROMANIAN AMBULATORY GYNECOLOGICAL WARD

Background: Human papillomaviruses (HPV) are a large family of small double-stranded DNA viruses that infect squamous epithelia. Human Papillomavirus (HPV) high-risk (HR) types are the causal factor for cervical cancer and premalignant dysplasia. Taking into account the heterogeneity of HPV types across and within populations this study aims to assess the HPV frequency in Romanian women. Results: We identifi ed 21 different types of HR HPV, from 117 female patients of gynecological clinic at the Medical Centre in Bucharest, aged 16-59, included into a retrospective 22 month study, positive for the virus analyzed by LINEAR ARRAY HPV® assay. These women were infected by a single or multiple HPV types. HR types were found in 85,5% of women and the most frequent genotypes in order of decreasing frequency were16; 53; 18; 52; 31; 66, 73; 45, 58, 84; 33, 51; 35, 68, 82; 39, 59, 62; 56, 67; IS39. Differences in frequency of HR HPV types were found for presence of cervical lesions: HR- types 31, 52, 53, followed by HR-types16, 58, 68, 35, 51, 66, 73 in ASCUS; HR-types 53, 16, 33, 51, 52, 66, 18, 31, 58 in L-SIL and HRtypes 16,18 in H-SIL, ASCH. Differences in frequency were found also for different HPV species and women age. Conclusions: Compared with studies from other countries, our data indicated differences in frequency of HR-HPV type infection, an association of HR-types HPV 16, 52, 53, 31, 51, 58, 18, 33, 66 and cervical lesions, and a trend for distinct distribution of HPV types by age.