Comparison of Human Papillomavirus Genotype Detection in Paired Urine and Self-Collected Cervical Swabs: A Pilot Study

OBJECTIVES: With the objective of establishing a simple, cost-effective, and effective screening tool for the screening of Human Papilloma Virus infection, the study was undertaken. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This pilot study was conducted on 20 urine samples of women whose cervical swabs were tested positive while screening for Human papilloma virus in asymptomatic women. RESULTS: HPV genotypes were detected in 94% (16/17) patients in urine samples by real-time PCR while a 100% detection rate (15/15) was observed in the cervical swab samples. The results of the urine and cervical swab samples, tested by the TRUPCR ®HPV high-risk genotyping kit, are shown in Table 2. HPV genotype 68 was found in 82.3% urinary samples and 100% of self-collected vaginal swab samples. Out of 16 positive urine samples, 2 were positive for HPV genotype 16 and 5 were positive for HPV genotype 18, and in cervical swab testing out of 15 positive samples, 3 were positive for HPV genotype 16, and 5 were positive for HPV genotype 18. Diagnostic accuracy of urine was found to be 98.8% (95% CI 79.43% - 100.00%). CONCLUSION: This pilot study aims to assess the accuracy of urine samples in the screening of HPV infection among asymptomatic women and establish the distribution of prevalent HPV genotypes. This may further contribute to standardizing the urine and cervical swab testing methods for cervical cancer screening strategies.