a longitudinal study of hpv detection and cervical pathology in hiv infected women objective to monitor the presence and persistence of high risk hr human papillomavirus hpv in cervical brushings from hiv infected womenmethods prospective observational cohort study of hiv infected women women were enrolled from the cohort of 164 hiv infected women who attend the colposcopy clinic at the edinburgh regional infectious diseases unit a single cervical brush scrape was obtained from 39 women and two or more samples from 63 women who attended regularly at approximately 6 monthly intervals hpv typing was carried out using a commercial hybrid capture assay hca details of antiretroviral therapy cytological assessment and histological evaluation were made available and the interrelation with hrhpv detection analysedresults abnormal cervical cytology particularly of low grade was common in these hiv infected women hrhpv types were detected in 25 of the women with normal cytology while over 80 of those with abnormal cytology of any grade were hrhpv positive persistent hrhpv as defined by two or more consecutive hpv positive results was common and found in 2763 women from whom multiple samples were obtained hrhpv was detected at high levels whether or not patients were receiving antiretroviral therapy profound immunosuppression was not necessarily associated with progression of cervical disease and no cases of invasive cervical disease were seenconclusion while mild dyskaryosis low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion lsil and persistence of hrhpv are common in hiv infected women in edinburgh regular cytological and colposcopic evaluation with appropriate intervention and treatment appears to limit the progression of cervical disease