Detection of Genital HPV Infection Using Urine Samples: a Population Based Study in India

Cervical cancer is the second commonest cancer among Indian women and its association with human papilloma virus (HPV) is well established. This preventable cancer accounts for the maximum number of cancer related deaths among rural Indian women. Unlike in developed countries there are no organized cervical cancer screening programmes in India due to lack of resources and manpower.

To detect genital HPV infection using urine samples among asymptomatic rural women in the age group of 18-65 years.

The study area chosen was Perdoor village in Udupi Taluk, Karnataka State and all the women in the age group of 18-65 years formed the study cohort. A cross sectional study was conducted by house visits and 1,305 women were enrolled in the study. After taking written informed consent a data sheet was filled and early stream random urine samples were collected, transported to a laboratory at 4OC and aliquoted. Samples were tested using nested HPV PCR with PGMY09/11 and GP5+/6+ primers. Positive cases were genotyped by sequence analysis.

Study participants included 1,134 sexually active and 171 unmarried women with a mean age at marriage of 22.1 (SD=3.9) years. Study area showed high female literacy rate of 86.6%. Five urine samples tested positive for HPV DNA (0.4%).

We found very low genital HPV infection rate among women from monogamous community. This is the first major population based study carried out among asymptomatic rural women to detect genital HPV infectio from Karnataka using urine samples.