"Performance of HPV DNA Test in Presence of Co-infection With Common RTIs"

There is a strong causal association between persisting genital tract infection with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and gradual progression of infection to cervical (mouth of uterus) cancer.The robust study from India have shown that single round of HPV DNA screening test to significantly reduce the cervical cancer mortality. The above findings are very encouraging since it demonstrates that a simple and reliable HPV DNA test which is now available in low income countries has a potential to be accepted as primary screening test in future. The cross-sectional studies from developed countries from year 1999-2004 which focused to determine the test characteristics of HPV Hybrid Capture 2 test (HC2) to determine CIN2 and higher grade lesions, reported test sensitivity of 90% to 100% with a mean of 95%. Similarly the cross-sectional studies from developing countries from 1993 to 2003 which have focused on test characteristics of HPV DNA Hybrid capture 2 (HC2) test to determine CIN2 and higher grade lesions has shown a sensitivity in the range of 50% to 91% with an average sensitivity of 79%.Among the developing countries cross-sectional study from India which evaluated test reported sensitivity of only 68.2%. There is a statistical significant difference ( p value = 0.003) of sensitivity of HPV DNA HC2 test between the developed and developing countries to determine CIN2+ Lesions while there is no difference in the specificity. A study that was conducted in Chinese women to detected the prevalence of HPV genotype among women with mucopurulent cervicitis, healthy women and women with Invasive cancer, the author reported a 10% higher failure rates to extract HPV DNA in cases of mucopurulent cervicitis as compared to other two groups. So the study will explore if if the presence of untreated co-infections with STIs/RTIs (Sexually transmitted infections/Reproductive tract infections) resulting in cervical inflammation is somewhere interfering with low sensitivity of HC2 te