Risk assessment of chronic HPV HR infection in babies who contacted the virus in the perinatal period

Abstract

Objectives: Risk assessment of the development of chronic HPV HR infection in babies who had contact with the virus in the perinatal period. Materials and methods: During the pre-and perinatal period, research was carried out among 185 pregnant women and a group of 105 newborns (5 pairs of twins), hospitalized in the Delivery Room of the Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic of the Poznań Medical University, between 2005–2007. Cellular material from the uterine cervical canal using a brush-type Cervex Brush was collected from each woman participating in the study and oral swabs using swab sticks were taken from the newborns. The second phase of testing was conducted following the postpartum, 3 to 6 months after the delivery. Uterine cervix swabs were re-collected from 28 HPV HR positive women and swab from the mouth and nasopharynx were taken from their children (29 samples – 1 pair of twins). The study was conducted with the use of PCR, trade named AMPLICOR® Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Test by Roche. Results: DNA HPV HR was found in 55 cases of the cellular material derived from 185 swabs taken from the cervical canal, representing 29.7% of researched women. The chronic HPV HR viral infection was detected in 25 cases out of the 28 HPV HR positive women, representing 89.2% of the study group. Of the 105 infants from whom oral swabs were taken in the perinatal period, presence of DNA HPV HR was found in 2 infants (2%) after traditional birth. Whereas the repeated test, within 3–6 months after delivery, revealed the presence of DNA HPV HR viruses in swab oral in 1 infant, who had been DNA HPV HR positive. Conclusions: Perinatal transmission of Human Papillomavirus of the high-risk oncogenic type is rare and concerns below 2% of babies of HPV HR positive mothers. Prolonged infection by the Human Papillomavirus is an extremely rare complication of pregnancy and delivery and concerns below 1% of children of HPV HR positive mothers. Perinatal transmission of the oncogenic type infection of the virus in humans is primarily of the ascending type or occurs during the perinatal period if the delivery was a traditional one.