and Its Association with Other Sexually Transmitted Coinfection among Sexually Active Women from the Northeast of Brazil.

Objective: To verify the association between HPV infection and the presence of coinfections (, , and ) in women in the state of Maranhão.

Methods: HPV-DNA detection was performed by the nested PCR, using the primers PGMY09/11 and GP + 5/GP + 6. For the identification of sexually transmitted agents, conventional PCR was performed using the following primers: KL1/KL2 (), TVA5/TVA6 (), and HO1/HO3 (). DNA-HPV positive samples were subjected to automated sequencing for genotyping.

Results: Among the 353 women evaluated, 204 (57.8%) had HPV-DNA, of which 140 (68.6%) exhibited HPV/STIs, while 64 (31.4%) had the only HPV. infection showed a positive association with HPV (=0.003). Women without cervical lesions were predominant (327/92.6%); however, the largest number of lesions was reported in women who had HPV/coinfections (18/8.8%). Multiple regression analysis showed that both HPV only and the concomitant presence of HPV/STI were able to indicate the occurrence of epithelial lesions ( = 0.164; 2 = 0.027).

Conclusion: The findings suggest that the presence of can contribute to HPV infection, and HPV/IST association may influence the development of cervical intraepithelial lesions that are precursors of cervical cancer.