HPV Infection and Genital Microecology of Childbearing-age Female in China: A Cohort and Multicenter Study

The volunteers will be recruited from the women who come to the hospital to do the thinprep cytologic test. After being informed about the potential risks, each volunteer giving written informed consent will be asked to complete a questionnaire. Then, cervical and vaginal swabs and cervical exfoliated cells will be taken from each volunteer to perform 16S rRNA gene sequencing microecology assessment on cervical secretions and detection and genotyping of HPV and pathogens of sexually transmitted diseases. If there is something abnormal with the diagnostic outcomes in the previous examinations, according to the doctor's judgement, those volunteer will be asked to undergo a vaginoscope and a cervical biopsy to evaluate the grade of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. After six months since the entry, each volunteer will be asked to go back to each research center to do the same sampling and examination as previously did in entry.

Inclusion criteria

• Female of childbearing age conducting thinprep cytologic test
• Having an experience of sexual intercourse
• Not during the menstrual period
• No sexual intercourse or vaginal medication or vaginal flushing in 3 days before sampling

Exclusion criteria

• Within 8 weeks of pregnancy or postpartum
• Having had tumors in reproductive tract
• Having had HPV bivalent, tetravalent or nine-valent vaccination
• Having received treatment for anti- HPV or other STDs pathogens infection
• Having had hysterectomy, cervical surgery and pelvic radiotherapy
• Having used broad-spectrum antibiotics, probiotics or vaginal suppositories in reproductive tract within 1 month