Tawe L, et al. - Given the higher risk of persistent HPV infection among women with HIV that may lead to cervical cancer, researchers examined 126 tissue specimens from confirmed invasive cervical cancer cases using Abbott Real-Time PCR assay for HPV prevalence and genotype distribution. HIV-infection was reported in 88 (69.8%) women; a baseline CD4+ count of ≥350 cells/μl was reported in 57 (64.8%) of these women and anti-retroviral therapy was ongoing in 82 (93.2%) women at the time of cervical cancer diagnosis. Compared to HIV-uninfected patients, HIV-infected patients were significantly younger. All of the tissues analyzed in this study displayed HPV DNA. HPV-16 (75.4%), HPV-18 (28.6%), and other high-risk (hr) HPV genotypes (16.7%) were the identified HPV genotypes. They noted a positive correlation of HIV infection with the presence of the HPV-16 genotype (p = 0.036), but not with HPV-18 or with other hr-HPV genotypes. Multiple hr-HPV genotypes were evident in 33% of the patients, with higher rates in HIV-infected women. Results thereby emphasize implementing large-scale HPV vaccination programs covering HPV-16 and HPV-18 genotypes in countries like Botswana with a high burden of HIV infection.