Genital herpetic infectionassociation with cervical dysplasia and carcinoma

Abstract

During a period of 5 1/2 years, 245 patients at Grady Memorial Hospital had cytologic evidence of an active genital herpetic infection. Cervical biopsies obtained in 98 of these patients showed a 23.7% incidence (58 cases) of cervical anaplasia, including 4 cases of invasive and 12 cases of in-situ squamous cell carcinoma. This is in contrast with the 1.6% overall incidence of cervical anaplasia among a control group of 245 apparently noninfected women of similar age and background and the 2.7% incidence found in the total 56,418 women screened during this period. These findings suggest that either (1) similar factors operate independently to produce both conditions or (2) that the venereally transmitted (type 2) genital herpesvirus plays some etiologic role in precancerous and cancerous cervical lesions. Findings supporting one or the other theory are presented which, however, do not permit any firm conclusion. In either case, the results reported here indicate that women with known genital herpetic infection should be followed closely as a special group with an increased risk of developing cervical anaplastic changes.