[HPV and spontaneous abortion: results from a virological study]

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is common among sexually active individuals and in some cases this infection could coincide with pregnancy in women. In this study, we present our results from investigation for HPV presence in the samples of 50 women with spontaneous abortions. Detection and typing of HPV were carried out by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using the primers designed to amplify E6/E7 gene sequences of HPV-16, 18 and L1 gene region of HPV-6, 11. HPV DNA was found in 1.5% (3/50) of the clinical samples tested (HPV-16 in one patient, HPV-18--in another one and HPV-16 and HPV-18--in the third patient. Our results support the hypothesis that HPV might be associated with some cases of spontaneous abortions. However, a bigger number of cases are needed for further studies to assess the actual risk of this virus in pregnancy.