Abstract

Background: The association of different genotypes of human papilloma virus (HPV) with cervical cancer is well known. However, there is little information about their association with pre-cancerous lesions. Aim: To assess the frequency of different HPV genotypes in pre cancerous cervical lesions. Material and methods: A cervical sample was obtained by cytobrush in 15 women with low grade lesions and 40 women with high grade lesions, subjected to conization by loop electrical excision procedure (LEEP). Detection and typification of HPV was done by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. Results: All women were infected with HPV. Eighty five percent of samples were typified. A unique HPV subtype was found in 76% of women. Fourteen percent had an infection with multiple subtypes and in 10%, the viral genotype was not identified. The most common subtypes found were HPV 16, HPV 52 and HPV 53. Conclusions: There is a high rate of infection with HPV with a high oncogenic risk among these women