The impact of the use of COL-1492, a nonoxynol-9 vaginal gel, on the presence of cervical human papillomavirus in female sex workers.

Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa.

This study investigated the effectiveness of a nonoxynol-9 (52.5mg, 3.5%), vaginal gel (Advantage S), in the prevention of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in female sex workers. We showed by HPV DNA determination in cervico-vaginal rinses a significant increase in multiple (>1) HPV infection in HIV-1 seropositive women compared with HIV-1 seronegative women (OR 4.0, 95% CI 1.3-11.9). We also demonstrated a significant increase in multiple HPV infections in HIV-1 seronegative women using nonoxynol-9 compared with HIV-1 seronegative women using placebo (OR 3.5 95% CI 1.0-11.8). We conclude that the use of nonoxynol-9 did not prevent genital HPV infection and could increase the virus' ability to infect or persist.

PMID: 16860426 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]