Mycoplasma Co-Infection Is Associated with Cervical Cancer Risk.

Tanzania faces one of the highest cervical cancer burdens in the world. Recent work has suggested that the bacterial family is associated with higher levels of human papillomavirus (HPV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and pre-cancerous cervical lesions. infection in Tanzania is not well understood, especially when considering the differences between sexually transmitted species of . To establish the prevalence of common cervical infections and evaluate their relationship with risk factors for cervical cancer, 1160 Tanzanian women responded to an epidemiological questionnaire and were tested for HIV, HPV, cervical lesions, , , spp., and . A subset of 134 women were used for 16s metagenomic sequencing of cervical DNA to establish the relative abundance of and present. PCR detection of bacteria at the cervix found spp. in 51.4% of women, in 34%, in 2.3%, and in 75.6%. and infection were significantly more prevalent among women with HPV and HIV. prevalence was similar despite severity of cervical lesions; however, abundance of increased significantly in women with cervical lesions. These results emphasize the importance of understanding the relationship between and HPV-related cervical pathogenesis.