Dr. C. Sarai Racey, Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia and Women’s Health Research Institute

There is very exciting work being presented at IPVC 2021 this year! This year’s virtual environment allows us to bounce across the field of inspiring e-posters and findings. I hope you will join me as I highlight a few of the e-posters from the Clinical Science Track to check-out over the course of the conference.

The conference countdown is on! Three, two, one…doses that is! Exciting findings about HPV vaccine effectiveness are being showcased this week, in the Clinical Science Track, check-out work presented by Whitworth et al. on the EFFECT OF MALARIA PARASITAEMIA ON ANTIBODY RESPONSES TO HPV VACCINATION: RESULTS FROM A DOSE-REDUCTION IMMUNOGENICITY TRIAL (THE DORIS TRIAL) AMONG TANZANIAN SCHOOL GIRLS. Understanding the potential impacts of known immuno-modulators on HPV vaccine effectiveness, particularly on 1-dose effectiveness, is an important consideration for potential reduced dose schedules.

There are a number of excellent e-posters examining HPV self-sampling. As HPV self-sampling is utilized more and more to reach individuals who are under-screened, there is a need for laboratory validation of specimen collection and preparation. Dry swabs have numerous advantages for self-sampling, and Connor et al. present a really nice validation study using serial dilution in their poster INFLUENCE OF RESUSPENSION VOLUME ON DRY SAMPLING DEVICES TAKEN FOR HPV TESTING; IMPLICATIONS FOR SELF-SAMPLING. Their findings have important implications for the use of dry swabs for HPV self-sampling.

Increasingly there is an interest in the use of urine for self-sampling for HPV testing. Alman et al. explored and compared acceptability of at-home urine and vaginal swab self-sampling kits in their poster: ACCEPTABILITY OF VAGINAL AND URINE SELF-SAMPLING METHODS FOR HIGH-RISK HPV DETECTION IN A RURAL POPULATION: A MIXED-METHODS INVESTIGATION. Key findings indicate that both at-home sampling kits were highly acceptable, with preference being for self-sampled vaginal swabs in a rural population of under-screened women. The use of mixed methods highlights the participant experience.

Another e-poster that caught my attention was presented by Uysal et at. from France: HSV AND HPV COINFECTION KINETICS IN GENITAL INFECTIONS: INSIGHTS FROM A CASE REPORT. This case report examined the relationship between HPV and HSV-2 co-infection, and whose observations related to immunogenicity and microbiota leads to further questions on the relationship between co-infection (including bacterial pathogens such as Mycoplasma genitalium) and the role of the microbiome in clearance of HPV.

I hope you enjoy the poster sessions and viewing as much as I have, and although we are unable to join together in person, this virtual exhibition of work is fantastic … and as every Toronto Maple Leaf fan knows… there is always next year!