Cervical Disease Is Common Among HPV-Positive Women with HIV

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia are more prevalent among HIV-positive women than among HIV-negative women. But what is the natural history of HPV infection in HIV-positive women?

In South Africa, researchers prospectively evaluated 400 untreated HIV-1–positive women during a 36-month period. At entry, 68% of the women were high-risk HPV DNA positive; 35% of these women had low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSILs), 13% had high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs), and none had cancer. Both abnormal cytology and high-risk HPV positivity correlated strongly with low CD4 counts and high HIV antiviral loads. New high-risk HPV infections developed in an additional 22% of women during…