The changing prevalence of cervical human papilloma virus infection.

In order to determine the change in frequency of human papillomavirus infection (HPV) over a 10-year period, cervical smears from 1978 were retrieved, cytologically reviewed and compared with cervical smears taken in 1988. In this way, the slides were reviewed using the same diagnostic criteria. The prevalence of HPV infection in the population assessed at Flinders Medical Centre, rose from 0.58% to 5.6% over this period.