Background Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is sexually transmitted and constitutes the major cause of cancer of the cervix and could be detected using cervical smear screening test. Aim and objective To determine the frequency of high risk HPV serotypes (16,18,33,45)in abnormal cervical smears in women aged 18-65 years in Calabar, Cross River State using cytological method over a period of one year from 1st March, 2017 to 28th February, 2018 in Cross River State, Nigeria. Materials and method The study was a cross sectional study carried out in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar on women aged 18-65 years who met the study inclusion criteria and were consecutively selected for conventional cervical screening test from the three provinces of Efik, Efut and Qua provinces. Females who were positive for squamous intraepithelial lesion after screening results were subjected to Human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid HPV DNA) testing. Results 304 women aged 18-65 years were recruited into the study. Of these only 30 had intraepithelial lesions. Low grade squamous lntraepithelial lesions (LSIL) predominated with 63.3%(19) as compared with High grade squamous lntraepithelial lesion of 36.6%(11). HPV DNA was observed in all the abnormal cytology subjected to HPV DNA test. The prevalence rate of high risk HPV in this study was 9.9 %. The commonest serotypes found among study participants were HPV 16,33,and 45 with prevalence of 4.7%, 100% and 61.9% respectively. Among participants infected with HPV 33 and HPV 45, 13(61.9%) and 8(38.1%) had low grade squamous Intraepithelial lesion respectively while 8(38.1%) and 5(23.8%) had high grade squamous Intraepithelial lesion respectivelyIn this study,66.67%(14) out of 21 participants had HPV DNA co infection . CONCLUSION The prevalent HPV serotypes were 16,33 and 45 from this study with serotypes 33 being the commonest. Advocacy for HPV vaccine for reproductive age females should be encouraged and this should be included with established cervical cancer screening programs in government hospitals.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

THE STUDY WAS SELF SPONSORED BY THE CORRESPONDING AUTHOR DR. ORJI CHINWENDU OCHEZE

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