Relatively low prevalence of human papillomavirus 16, 18 and 33 DNA in the normal cervices of Japanese women shown by polymerase chain reaction.

Ninety-two cervical scrapes and tissues, obtained from cytologically or histologically normal cervices of Japanese women, were examined for the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) 16, 18 and 33 DNA by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Five out of 92 cases were HPV 16 DNA-positive, but neither HPV 18 nor 33 DNA was detected. The HPV (type 16, 18 and 33) prevalence rate in pregnant women, including postpartum, was 10% (3/31), which was higher than that in non-pregnant women. In two HPV 16-positive cases, we detected HPV 16 DNA again 2 months later. HPV (type 16, 18 and 33) prevalence in normal cervices was shown to be relatively low. However, it is very important to follow up the HPV-positive cases in cytologically normal cervices in order to elucidate the relation between HPV infection and the progression of cervical cancer.