Herpesvirus infection and cervical anaplasia: a seroepidemiological study

In a cohort of 23,146 pregnant females followed for 37-56 months subsequent to collection of prenatal sera, 57 cases of carcinoma of the cervix were encountered. Three controls were selected for each case from the residual cohort matched to cases for age, residence, number of prior cytology smears taken, and the data of entry to the study. The antibody activity to herpesvirus type 1 and type 2 was examined by the indirect hemagglutination test. The proportion of cases positive for HSV-2 infection was greater than that of the controls; however, the difference was not significant at the 5% level. The relative risk value for the association between HSV-2 infection and carcinoma of the cervix was found to be 2.33. The geometric mean titers of IHAT revealed that the cases of cervical cancer had a higher titer than the controls with respect to HSV-1 as well as HSV-2 antibodies. A sufficiently longer follow-up, yielding a larger sample size, is desired to assess the specific role of HSV-2 infection in development of cervical anaplasia.