Colposcopic Study of Lower Genital Tract Infections in HIV-Positive Women on Antiretroviral Therapy.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To study the colposcopic findings and prevalence of lower genital tract infections in HIV-positive women on anti-retroviral therapy. To find correlation between colposcopic finding, m RNA HPV and cytology of lower genital tract infections in HIV-positive women on anti-retroviral therapy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present prospective observational study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur, from 1 June 2013 to 31 October 2014. The data of the present study was recorded into computer and after proper validation, error checking, coding and decoding, the data was compiled and analysed using the SPSS Windows. Appropriate univariate and bivariate analysis were carried out using the Student's t test and two-tailed Fisher exact test or Chi-square test for categorical variables.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The present study concludes that the prevalence of lower genital tract infections is 25.3 % in HIV-positive women on anti-retroviral therapy. It revealed that 35 HIV-positive women on anti-retroviral therapy who were screened for m HPV RNA test, one came out to be positive (i.e. 2.8 %); thus, it can be said that there is an increased clearance of oncogenic HPV types in HIV-positive women on anti-retroviral therapy.