Cervical Cancer Caused by Human Papillomavirus Infection in Latin America:
A Focus on Populations in Rural Honduras
Cervical cancer is the second most common type of cancer affecting women worldwide, but is the most common cause of cancer death in women in developing countries, disproportionally representing 80% of the cervical cancer deaths in women throughout the world (Ferrera et al., 1997; Perkins et al., 2011). More specifically, in 2008, statistics recorded over 80,000 women in Latin America and the Caribbean were diagnosed with cervical cancer, and nearly 36,000 died from the disease (PAHO et al., 2012). This accounts for over 16% (incidence) and over 13% (mortality) of the world’s public health burden due to cervical cancer. These numbers indicate that incidence of cervical cancer in Latin America is among the highest in the world, along with Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia (Arrossi et al., 2003). Cervical cancer mortality has remained consistently high in Latin America despite significant health care spending increases due to poor quality services, as well as, limited population coverage, specifically in rural areas (Perkins et al., 2009). Most importantly; however, is that cervical cancer is the most prevalent cause of cancer in women in Honduras and the leading cause of cancer death for Honduran women (Ferrera et al., 1997; Garrett et al., 2013) It is critical to note that many epidemiological studies show that the human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA is detected in 80%-90% of cervical carcinomas (Ferrara et al., 1997). Vaccination again the most common types of HPV has proven successful at significantly decreasing rates of cervical cancer in developed nations. In fact, mortality rates of cervical cancer are seven times higher in Latin America and the Caribbean than in North America (PAHO et al., 2012). High prevalence of HPV infection