Medical Diagnosis Exams

Persistent infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is the cause of cervical cancer and its precursor cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN).

The presence of HPV has been implicated in greater than 99% of cervical cancers, worldwide. HPV is a small, non-enveloped, double-stranded DNA virus, with a genome of approximately 8000 nucleotides.

There are more than 118 different types of HPV, and approximately 40 different HPVs that can infect the human anogenital mucosa. The risk of disease progression from dysplasia to cervical cancer is dependent on the HPV types.

Therefore, HPV types have been grouped into different oncogenic risk groups. These groups are associated with the level of threat that a patient may develop cancer. For example, the high-risk group, HPV 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 66, 68, 73 and 82, has been recognized as tumour producing, whereas low-risk group, HPV 6, 11, 40, 42, 43, 44, 54, 61, 70, 72, and 81, has little chance of progressing to malignant disease.