HPV-Chlamydia Co-Infection Increases the Risk for Cervical Lesions

Women who have a co-infection of human papillomavirus (HPV) and Chlamydia trachomatis are at greater risk for the progression of cervical lesions, according to a new study.

To reach this conclusion, the researchers performed a polymerase chain reaction-based HPV-C trachomatis screening and used a thinprep cytologic test to analyze cervical samples.

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In all, 2345 women from Inner Mongolia, China, participated in the study.

Of the participants, 36.0% had HPV, 14.3% had C trachomatis, and 4.8% had both infections.

The participants who were co-infected had a higher rate of multiple HPV genotypes, with HPV66 being the most frequently identified genotype among the group.

While the HPV DNA load was significantly higher among participants infected with HPV only, the C trachomatis DNA load was significantly higher among participants who were co-infected.

Women who were single and women with multiple sexual partners had a higher risk for co-infection.

Co-infection itself was associated with an increased risk for high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions.

—Colleen Murphy

Reference:

Ji Y, Ma XX, Li Z, Peppelenbosch MP, Ma Z, Pan Q. The burden of human papillomavirus and Chlamydia trachomatis coinfection in women: a large cohort study in inner Mongolia, China. J Infect Dis. 2019;219(2):206-214. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiy497.