• Kirti Sharma, Atul Kathait, Asha Jain, Karmila Kujur, Shirish Raghuwanshi, Alok Chandra Bharti, Asha Chandola Saklani, and Bhudev Chandra Das.
• Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Centre for Biomedical Research, University of Delhi, Delhi, India; School of Biosciences and Clinical Research, ApeejayStya University, Sohna-Palwal road, Sohna, Gurgaon, India.
• Plos One. 2015 Jan 1;10(5):e0125693.

BackgroundDespite high prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical cancer in Indian women, no study has been done in tribal populations whose socio-sexual lifestyle is different. Therefore, HPV screening has been carried out in pre-adolescent, adolescent and young adult tribal girls using self-collected urine samples.Methods20-35 ml self-collected midstream urine samples were obtained from a total of 2278 healthy tribal girls (9-25 years) comprising pre-adolescent, adolescent and young adults from three Indian states: Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. β-globin positive 2034 samples were employed for HPV detection and genotyping.ResultsThe overall prevalence of HPV infection in tribal girls was 12.9% (262/2034). More than 65% (172/262) of them were infected with HR-HPV types of which HPV16 was the most predominant type (54%). Young adult girls aged 18-25 years showed a significantly higher prevalence of HPV infection (19.2%; OR = 3.36; 95% CI 2.97-6.34, P<0.001) as compared to that in adolescent (11.4%; OR = 1.82; 95% CI 1.20-2.76, P<0.01) or pre-adolescent girls (6.6%).ConclusionThis is a first study showing significantly a very high prevalence of HPV infection in adolescent and young adult tribal girls possibly due to different socio-sexual behavior, indicating a serious health concern for Indian tribal women.

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