Background: HPV infection is the main cause of cervical cancer and cervicalintraepithelial neoplasia worldwide. The second-generation HC II test is a liquid hybridization assaydesigned to detect 18 HPV types. The aim of the present study was to detect the rate of HPV infectionand its various genotypes among Egyptian women. Material/Methods: We evaluated 166 Egyptian women. Theywere classified according to cytology into those with normal cytology, chronic nonspecific cervicitis,and squamous intraepithelial lesions (SILs). Results: The overall prevalence of HPV DNA in the studiedgroups was 15.06% (25/166). Among the 25 HPV-positive women, 16 (64%) were infected with high-risk HPVtypes, 4 (16%) with low risk HPV types, while 5 (20%) had both types. Twenty-one (84%) of the infectedwomen harbored at least one high-risk HPV type, while 9 (36%) harbored at least one low-risk HPV type.Values of HPV viral load for low-risk HPV infection showed no significant difference in the normal andchronic nonspecific cervicitis groups. But when HPV viral load of high-risk HPV infection was comparedin the normal, chronic nonspecific cervicitis, and SIL groups, a significant difference was found. Thesame was detected between chronic nonspecific cervicitis and SIL and between normal cytology and SIL,suggesting an association between viral load and risk of SIL and, accordingly, cancer. Conclusions: Itmay be concluded that HPV testing using the HC II assay is a useful tool when combined with cytologyin the diagnosis of high-risk HPV viral types in apparently normal tissues.

Keywords: Egypt, DNA, Viral - analysis, Mass Screening - methods, Nucleic Acid Hybridization - methods, Papillomaviridae - isolation & purification