Detection of Human Papilloma Virus in women in the western region of Libya using Real-time PCR

Purpose:
The association between HPV and cervical cancer is well established, however, available data about the detection of the most common high-risk HPV types among Libyan women is still rare. The aim of this study is to detect 24 high-risk HPV.

Materials and Methods: 
SA total of 50 cervical samples from Pap smears were collected from infected women seeking routine gynecological care and others at Out Patient Department gynecology clinics in the Western Region, National Cancer Institute Sabratha. Real-time PCR was used to facilitate the specific detection of HPV-DNA testing for sequencing genotypes: (16, 18, 26, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 53, 56, 58, 59, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 73, 82 and 97).

Results:
The overall prevalence of the HPV-DNA high-risk types was 4.0%, and only 2 positive samples (n=2/50) were confirmed of harboring HPV- DNA, while 96% (48/50) had negative HPV detection. The detection of high-risk HPV types was only limited to types 16, 18, and 45, with no detection of the other 21 HPV types.

Conclusion:
This study showed a low overall prevalence of (4.0%) of HPV infection compared to other regions, there was enough evidence of a high rate burden of HPV 16, 18, and 45 among Libyan women for cervical abnormalities “cancer. (Open J Biomed Res 2023;2:8-15.)