Prevalence of HPV in anal samples from Venezuelan male HIV positive patients

The aim of this work was to characterize HPV infection in a group of HIV+ and HIV- men to determine the association between HIV infection, anal squamous intra-epithelial lesions (ASILs) and different HPV genotype. Twenty HIV+ and nine HIV- men were enrolled after informed consent and complete physical and ano-rectal examination. Anal exfoliated cells were analyzed for the presence of HPV DNA's using PCR and FRLP techniques. Our data showed that in the HIV + patients, 10 % had ASCUS lesions, 35 % low grade anal squamous intraepithelial lesions (Lg-ASIL), 15 % Hg-ASIL and 5 % presented Hg-ASIL /Invasive anal cancer. The overall prevalence of HPV infection was higher in HIV+ group (95 %) than in the HIV- group (78 %). HPV 16 was detected in 55 % in HIV+ and 29 % HIV-. Moreover, the behavior of specific HPV types appears to be similar as well as in the case in the cervix, HPV 16 is the most common HPV type that found in association to ASIL and anal cancer.