Assessment of HPV infection among female university students in Honduras via Roche linear array.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of specific types of human papillomavirus (HPV), and the association with possible risk factors, among female university students at university in Honduras. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, cervical samples from 400 women aged 18-35years were tested using a Roche HPV linear array to differentiate 37 genotypes of HPV. Associations with risk factors were assessed. RESULTS: Of the 400 participants, 393 completed the study. HPV DNA was detected in 45% of these women, of whom 73% were infected with high-risk types of HPV and 46% had multiple infections. Overall, 36 HPV genotypes were identified, of which HPV types 16, 51, 84, 66, and 39 were the most common. There was a marked decrease in the prevalence of multiple and high-risk infections with age. The factors that were independently associated with risk of being infected were related to sexual behavior and smoking habits. CONCLUSION: The study showed that genital HPV infection is common among sexually active women at university in Honduras. In addition, the Roche linear array was shown to be a valuable tool for HPV genotyping, which will be useful for monitoring the future effectiveness of an HPV vaccine in the population.

Human papillomavirus infection in Honduran women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or cervical cancer.

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to investigate human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes in women with cervical intraepithelial lesions and cervical cancer (CC) in Honduras and to identify epidemiological cofactors that contribute to the development of CC. METHODS: Among the 289 patients analyzed, 139 had low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), 60 had high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), and 90 had CC. RESULTS: The HPV DNA was detected in 113 women (81%) with LSIL, in 58 women (97%) with HSIL, and in 84 women (93%) with CC. Twenty-five HPV genotypes were found. Human papillomavirus type 16 was detected in 41% of women with CC, in 35% of women with HSIL, and in 24% of women with LSIL. Human papillomavirus type 18 was found in 9% of women with CC, in 4% of women with HSIL, and 5% of women with LSIL. CONCLUSION: Therefore, implementation of the prophylactic vaccines against HPV genotypes 16 and 18 has the potential of preventing at least a quarter of LSIL, one third of HSIL, and about half of CC cases in Honduras.

Molecular Variants of HPV Type 16 E6 Among Honduran Women.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we investigated the prevalence of human papillomavirus 16 (HPV-16) variants in Honduran women with normal cytology and with dysplasia and cervical cancer. METHODS: Samples identified as positive for HPV-16 by SPF10-LiPA were tested for intratypic subtypes and variants by analysis of the E6/E7 region using a novel reverse hybridization assay (line probe assay). RESULTS: We found that most infections in all clinical groups belong to the E6 European variants, suggesting that HPV-16 non-European variants do not represent an additional factor associated with increased occurrence of high-grade cervical lesions in the studied population. Among the 106 HPV-16-positive women analyzed, E-350G was the most prevalent variant in all different disease stages, being present in 18% of cervical cancer, 13% of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade III (CIN III), 5% of CIN II, 5% of CIN I, and 20% of control samples. Mixed variants of HPV-16 infections were detected in 7.7% of the samples, mostly in women with normal cytology. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows for the first time the diversity of HPV-16 variants in cervical samples of Honduran women.

High HPV 16 viral load is associated with increased cervical dysplasia in Honduran women.

Cervical cancer is believed to have a co-factorial etiology in which high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are considered an essential factor and other elements play an ancillary role. Besides the importance of specific HPV genotypes, other viral cofactors as viral load may influence the progression likelihood. In this study the relationship between HPV 16 viral load with respect to the grade of cervical disease in Honduran women was investigated. A real-time PCR allowing quantification of both HPV 16 genome and beta-globin gene to normalize the measuring HPV 16 load in cervical cells was used. The data in 87 women with cervical dysplasia or cervical cancer and in 23 women with a negative Pap smear were evaluated. The highest average of HPV 16 viral load was detected in women with High Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions (HSIL). An increasing amount of HPV in higher cervical lesions was found, which could indicate a dose-response association between viral load and precancerous lesion grade.

Chlamydia trachomatis and genital human papillomavirus infections in female university students in Honduras.

Sexually transmitted infections are a serious health problem in Honduras. Human papillomavirus (HPV) and Chlamydia trachomatis are major causes of sexually transmitted diseases. To determine the prevalence of C. trachomatis and HPV in young women, 100 female university students in Honduras were assayed for the presence of these pathogens. Twenty-eight percent were positive for HPV and 6% were positive for C. trachomatis. These results show that genital HPV and C. trachomatis infections are very common among sexually active young women in Honduras. It is vital to promote extensive public awareness campaigns among sexually active women concerning preventive measures of these diseases.

Ferritina sérica en diferentes grupos de población en Honduras / Serum ferritin in differents groups in Honduran population

Con el propósito de conocer valores normales en Honduras, hemos investigado la concentración de ferritina sérica en cuatro grupos de población. De 283 voluntarios estudiados, 13 fueron mujeres no embarazadas, 73 niños, 98 mujeres embarazadas y 99 hombres. El valor medio de ferritina y el rango encontrado fue de la siguiente manera: mujeres no embarazadas 32 ng/dl (5.5 ng/dl- 200 ng/dl), niños 24.8 ng/dl (3.7 ng/dl - 18 ng/dl), mujeres embarazadas 10.6 ng/dL (3.1 ng/dL- 163 ng/dL) y hombres 73.6 ng/dL (21.8 ng/dL- 422.7 ng/dL). Se determinó la concentración de hemoglobina y hematocrito y se estableció la relación entre hemoglobina y ferritina, encontrandose que en los cuatro grupos existió una relación directamente proporcional entre los niveles de hemoglobina y de ferritina sérica