Prevalence and distribution of high-risk Human Papillomavirus Genotypes in Cervical cancer tissue biopsies at Bugando Medical Centre, Northwestern Tanzania

Abstract Background Cervical cancer remains a major public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa, where the distribution of high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) genotypes varies geographically. Data on hrHPV genotypes in cervical cancer tissue from northwestern Tanzania are limited. This study determined the prevalence and distribution of hrHPV genotypes in fresh cervical cancer tissue biopsies at Bugando Medical Centre, Mwanza, Tanzania. Methods We conducted a hospital-based study among 309 women with histologically confirmed cervical cancer between January 2024 and January 2025. We tested fresh cervical tissue biopsies for hrHPV DNA using the Anyplex™ II HPV28 real-time PCR assay. We analysed clinical, demographic, and histopathological characteristics using chi-square and logistic regression. Genotype-level analyses accounted for clustering of multiple detections within women. Results We detected hrHPV DNA in 277/309 (89.6%) women. Among hrHPV-positive women, 69.0% had multiple-genotype infections. Of 581 genotype detections, HPV16 was most frequent (36.7%), followed by HPV18 (21.9%), HPV45 (7.2%), HPV33 (6.5%), HPV35 (6.0%), HPV31 (5.7%) and HPV59 (5.5%). HrHPV positivity was higher in squamous cell carcinoma than adenocarcinoma (91.7% vs 83.7%; p = 0.044), but histological subtype was not independently associated with hrHPV positivity. Among women with known HIV status, HIV-positive status was associated with higher odds of HPV16/18 detection compared with other hrHPV genotypes (OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.09–2.05; p = 0.013).