Association of Schistosoma haematobium and human papillomavirus in cervical cancer: a case report.

BACKGROUND: The association between Schistosoma haematobium and cervical cancer has been reported for a long time. However, recently human papillomavirus, a cofactor in the genesis of cervical cancer, has been confirmed. A case of squamous intraepithelial lesion after S haematobium infection is presented, and the relation between schistosomiasis, human papillomavirus and squamous intraepithelial lesion, with long-term follow-up by Papanicolaou smear, is discussed. CASE: A 33-year-old, normal, healthy woman with a history of Copper intrauterine device (IUD) use for 3.9 years presented for her annual contraceptive follow-up. Her Pap smear revealed inflammation with a S haematobium egg. She was followed up with Pap smears for 4 years. Retrospective contraceptive history revealed use ofa copper IUD on 5 occasions with a total duration of 13 years and 1 month. Similarly, annual follow-up of Pap smears for the past 13 years showed mild inflammation with bacterial vaginitis and monilial infection. Subsequent smears showed an Actinomyces-like organism and then human papillomavirus infection with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance followed by human papillomavirus-associated low/high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion. CONCLUSION: Caution is required while screening routine Pap smears. Apart from nuclear abnormalities, one can observe unusual findings. Long-term followup by Pap smear following detection of S haematobium revealed that in the absence of human papillomavirus, S haematobium alone is not the causative agent for the abnormal proliferation of squamous epithelium of the cervix. Genital Schistosomia acts as a cofactor by traumatizing the genital epithelium or immune suppression to favor human papillomavirus infection.

Introital swab testing for Chlamydia trachomatis in a resource-poor setting: an Indian perspective.

OBJECTIVE: Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is implicated both in tubal infertility and in cervical dysplasia. Early detection of this infection is uncommon due to its asymptomatic nature and to lack of adequate health care facilities, leading to irreversible sequelae. This study evaluates the use of an introital specimen from women attending the Institute's infertility clinic to detect CT by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and to correlate it with intraepithelial changes (IEC) of the cervix by Pap smears. METHODS: Introital and endocervical swab specimens were taken from 100 infertile women for PCR. An endocervical smear was taken for Pap staining. RESULTS: The CT infection rate was 34%. Sensitivity of introital and endocervical specimens for detection of CT was 82.4% and 85.3%, respectively (P > 0.05); both had 100% specificity. Sixty-seven percent of infected women were less than 30 years of age and only 15% of these reported discharge. Vaginitis/cervicitis was observed in 35% of the positive cases. IEC suggesting inflammation was seen in 74% of the infected women, as compared to 48% of subjects with normal cytology (p = 0.016). Being noninvasive, self collection of an introital specimen can be advocated in large-scale settings in our country for detection of CT in order to contain the infection and its complications.