Prevalence and molecular epidemiology of human papillomavirus infection in italian women with cervical cytological abnormalities.

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the most common sexually transmitted infection and high-risk HPV types are a necessary cause for the development of cervical cancer. The present study investigated the HPV-type specific prevalence in 650 women, aged 15-76 years, with cytological abnormalities and the association between HPV infection and cervical disease in a subset of 160 women for whom cytological results for Pap-Test were available, during the period 2008-2011 in Cagliari (Southern Italy).

Design And Methods: HPV-DNA extraction was performed by lysis and digestion with proteinase K and it was typed by using the INNOLiPA HPV Genotyping Assay.