Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) prevalence and genotype distribution among women in Karachi, Pakistan.

Authors

S Maria Jilani, Angelika Iftner, Hana'a Iqbal, Atia Tul-Wahab, M Iqbal Choudhary, Sharmeen Fayyaz, Tina M Rehm, Thomas Iftner

Published in

Journal of virus eradication. Volume 12. Issue 3. Pages 100631. Epub Jun 24, 2026.

Abstract

Human papillomavirus (HPV) epidemiological data from Pakistan remain limited, particularly in unscreened and unvaccinated populations. We performed a cross-sectional study in Karachi, Pakistan, to determine overall type- and age-specific HPV prevalence between May 2022 and November 2023. A total of 3119 women were invited to participate; 497 women gave consent, provided cervical samples and were included in the final analysis. HPV detection and genotyping were done using the highly sensitive INNO-LiPA HPV Genotyping Extra II line probe assay. Overall HPV prevalence was 16.7%. High-risk (HR) HPV types (counted once per genotype within IARC groups 1, 2A and 2B) were detected in 11.8% of women, and low-risk or unclassified types in 5.0%. Single HR-HPV infections occurred in 8.4% and multiple HR-HPV infections in 3.4%. Fourteen HR genotypes were detected as single infections, with HPV31 and HPV53 (1.2% each) being most prevalent, followed by HPV68 (1.0%), HPV16 (0.8%), and HPV33/HPV39/HPV51 (0.6% each). Less frequent types included HPV82 and HPV18 (0.4% each), and HPV35/HPV70/HPV73 (0.2% each). The most prevalent low-risk type was HPV6 (1.2%). HPV prevalence peaked in women aged 25-34 years (21.4%) and remained detectable in women above 54 years (12.5%). These data indicate a substantial and genetically diverse HR-HPV burden in Karachi. They support organized HPV-based cervical cancer screening using high-performance assays that detect the full panel of carcinogenic HPV types, with adequate triage and follow-up. They also support rapid scale-up and monitoring of HPV vaccination in Pakistan, including assessment of broader-valency vaccination strategies where feasible, to reduce cervical cancer, pre-cancerous lesions and other HPV-related cancers.

PMID:
42404305
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Jul 2026.

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