HERPES TYPE-2 VIRUS AND CARCINOMA. OP THE CERVIX UTERI IN NIGERIANS: IMMJNOVIRDLOGICAL STUDIES

AB5TRACT In the search for the etiology of carcinoma of the cervix uteri, various factors have been implicated by various workers, The disease has been shown to have a venereal origin, following on its significant association with coital characteristics. These include early Initiation into hetero-sexual acts and frequency o f coitu3, multiplicity of coital Partners, multiparty, low socio-economic Standards, venereal diseases and circumcision. Extensive epidemiologic studies have indicated that a "venoreally transmitted factor" night be responsible for the induction e. of the squamous cell Varity of the malignant disease, Recently, a strain o f Herpes Simplex virus, antigenic ally distinct from the strain commonly associated with oral lesions, and designated Genital Herpes or Herpes Type-2 (HT-2) virus, was shown to be venereally transmitted, and aight have oncogenic poten tialities on the cervix. At the time the present studies were contemplated, lit t le was documented about the clinical and histopathologic presentation of Carcinoma of the cervix in Ibadan. There was also no knowledge of the prevalence of Herpes Type-2 virus antibodies in the population, nor of the precise relationship, i f any, of the virus to carcinoma of the cervix uteri in Ibadan^ It was clear however, as a result of the work Edington and Eaclean (1965) that carcinoma of the cervix uteri is very common in Ibadan, where it was shown to form the commonest female malignancy.