Genotypic diversity and factors associated with Human Papillomavirus among patients attending Special Treatment Centre (STC) in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Different samples can be used for cervical screening, including Pap test or biopsy, Liquid Based Cytology, Visual inspection using acetic acid or Lugol’s iodine, and HPV testing using cervical brush. These methods require pelvic examination, which is invasive and uncomfortable for patients. Therefore there is need to use urine which is non-invasive, easy to collect and unbiased since it bypasses medical examination, sociocultural and religious implications. The study aimed at determining genotyping diversity and assessing the factors for HPV in urine from patients attending Special Treatment Centre (STC) in Nairobi County. A laboratory based cross-sectional survey was conducted on 222 consenting men and women aged 18-49 years (mean age 32 years; SD=1.2). Participants were sampled using simple random sampling and structured questionnaires were administered. Approximately 10 ml self-collected urine samples were collected using 15ml sterile falcon tubes. Genomic DNA was extracted from 222 urine samples (45 from men (mean age 34 years; SD=2.73) and 177 from women (mean age 31 years; SD=1.33) using Qiagen DNA blood mini kit and the presence of HPV DNA was amplified using the L1 gene. Big dye terminator method of sequencing was used to determine the HPV viral genotypes. High risk HPV genotypes detected among females were: HPV-16 (10%) and 66 (7.5%), while low risk types were HPV 6 (27.5%), followed by 81 (25%), 83 (10%), 11 (7.5%), 70 (7.5%) and 54 (2.5%). The prevalent low-risk HPV type detected in males was HPV type 6 (75%) while HPV-58 (25%) was the only high risk type in males. History of sexually transmitted infections was significantly associated with HPV infection among females (P=0.002). The prevalence of HPV was high from this population. There is need to monitor HPV types in circulation since it is important for HPV vaccine development.