Molecular Detection of Sexually Transmitted Infections in Women with and without Human Papillomaviruses Infection Who Referred to Tehran West Hospitals in Iran

Background: According to the studies, many pathogens function as cofactors interacting with Human papillomavirus in the development of pre-cancer or cancer of the cervix. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence rate of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) pathogens including Mycoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Gardnerella vaginalis, and Streptococcus agalactiae in people with HPV and without HPV infection, and frequency rate of these pathogens in high and low risk of HPV.

Methods: Cervical samples of 280 women who referred to Tehran west hospitals in Iran, between 2019 and 2020, were collected. After DNA extraction of samples, identification of HPV and genotyping was performed, and then, to detect each microorganism, the PCR was carried out with specific primers. Finally, the results were analyzed using descriptive statistics tests.

Results: The mean age of patients was 37 years. Two groups of patients were identified based on positivity or negativity of HPV. In HPV-positive group (118 cases), the prevalence of U. urealyticum, M. hominis, N. gonorrhoeae, G. vaginalis, and S. agalactiae was 38 (13%), 7 (62%), 5.93%, 19.49%, 0.84% respectively. In HPV-negative group (162 cases), rate of infection with U. urealyticum, M. hominis, N. gonorrhoeae, G. vaginalis, and S. agalactiae was 29.62%, 6.17%, 3.08%, 16.04%, 0.61% respectively. Among the two groups, there was only 1 patient with C. trachomatis (0.84%), seen in HPV-positive group.

Conclusion: In this study no significant association was found between HPV and bacteria such as G. vaginalis and S. agalactiae, and it was found that C. trachomatis, and especially N. gonorrhoeae are strongly associated with HPV infection.