Background: The epidemiology and impact of multiple concurrent Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections on the natural history of cervical disease is uncertain, but could have significant implications for cervical cancer prevention and HPV vaccination strategies.
Methods: A cross-sectional prevalence study was conducted to determine the overall prevalence of HPV and the rate of multiple concurrent HPV infections, in a cohort of sexually active HIV-uninfected South African adolescents. HPV genotyping was performed using the polymerase chain reaction.
Results: Overall prevalence of HPV was 64.1%. Multiple concurrent HPV infections were found in 43.6% of participants and 68% of HPV-infected participants. Non-vaccine high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) genotypes were found much more often than vaccine types (HPV16 and HPV18).
Conclusions: Our cohort of young South African females was found to have a high overall prevalence of HPV and multiple concurrent HPV infections. Most HR-HPV infections found were genotypes other than HPV16 or HPV18.
Keywords: Adolescent; Human papillomavirus; Multiple concurrent infections; South Africa.