The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine had a higher risk of failure with women who are HIV-positive, according to a recent research by the University of British Columbia.
The national observational study, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, followed women and girls living with HIV who received the vaccine, and compared their health outcomes with published data on vaccinated and unvaccinated women living with and without HIV.
Elisabeth McClymont
The study, led by Deborah Money, a Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Executive Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, looked at 279 volunteers recruited from Canadian HIV clinics, with more than 95 per cent receiving three doses of the vaccine.
After a median follow-up of two years, the incidence of genital warts and continued HPV infection was 2.3 per 100 person-years in the intention-to-treat group, compared to 0.1 per 100 person-years in a group of 1,900 women and girls without HIV who were tracked in a separate international study, published in 2009.
The incidence rates from this study were similar to the incidence rates of women from the 2009 study who received a placebo instead of the actual HPV vaccine.
Lead author Elisabeth McClymont, a PhD student, and her co-authors concluded that the HPV vaccine should continue to be offered to a wide range of women living with HIV. But health officials and health providers should be aware that women living with HIV appear to be at higher risk of acquiring persistent HPV-related infection and disease, even with vaccination.
“As a result, regular cervical screening remains important in vaccinated [women living with HIV],” they wrote.