Background: The SelfCerv Self-Collection Cervical Health Screening Kit (Ilex Medical Ltd., Johannesburg, South Africa) is an applicator tampon designed for self-collection of vaginal samples for the detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and E6/E7 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA). The study aimed to evaluate the performance of the SelfCerv applicator tampon for the detection of hr-HPV for cervical cancer screening, and further to investigate women’s experiences and preferences regarding self-sampling. Methods: Vaginal samples were collected from 527 gynecology clinic attendees aged ≥18 years at a tertiary hospital in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Self-samples were collected using the SelfCerv kit, followed by endocervical samples collected by a healthcare professional using Cervex-Brush® Combi. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire on self-sampling experiences and preferences. Both samples were tested for 14 high-risk (hr) HPV types and E6/E7 mRNA using the Abbott RealTime HR-HPV and Aptima HR-HPV mRNA assays, respectively. Results: The overall agreement for hr-HPV typing between 527 paired samples was good (87.1%; κ =0.74) with high sensitivity (86.2%) and specificity (88.0%). HPV-16 (96.4%; κ = 0.83) had higher agreement rate than HPV-18 (96.8%; κ = 0.72) and the other 12 hr-HPVs (86.5%; κ = 0.72). Two hundred and eighty-five (285) sample pairs tested for E6/E7 mRNA showed fair agreement (70.2%; κ= 0.34). Furthermore, self-sampling was reported as comfortable (90.5%) and painless (86.7%), with 88.4% of women preferring self-collection. Conclusions: Self-collected samples had good agreement with the healthcare professional-collected samples for the detection of hr-HPV DNA and the procedure was highly preferred by women. Self-sampling using SelfCerv can be used as an alternative to healthcare professional sampling in clinic-based routine cervical cancer screening.

Background In 2017, the South African National Department of Health (NDoH) Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control Policy was revised. Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing on self-collected samples may offer improved screening uptake. The objectives of the study were to compare the positivity of high-risk (hr)-HPV deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and hrHPV viral messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) between healthcare worker-collected cervical and self-collected vaginal samples and investigate the accuracy of the applicator-tampon-based self-collected samples in detecting hrHPV DNA and hrHPV mRNA. Methods A total of 527 women aged 18 years and older and seeking gynecology services at a tertiary hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, were enrolled. Vaginal samples were self-collected using SelfCerv applicator tampon, followed by cervical samples collected by a healthcare worker using a Cervex Brush® Combi. Both samples were tested with the Abbott m2000 analyzer for 14-hrHPV types and 285 paired samples were tested for hrHPV E6/E7 mRNA using the Aptima HR-HPV mRNA assay. The prevalence of hrHPV DNA and hrHPV E6/E7 mRNA was estimated and the positivity between the two collection methods was compared for the total group as well as per age group. Results HrHPV prevalence was 48.0% (95% CI 43.7–52.4) among healthcare worker collected samples and 47.6% (95% CI 43.3–52.0) among self-collected samples. There was no difference in positivity between healthcare worker collection (48.0%) and applicator-tampon-based self-collection, 47.6% (p-value = 0.90). The proportions of hrHPV were equal between the age groups as shown by the McNemar test (p = 0.9036) results for correlated proportions. The prevalence of hrHPV mRNA was 78.6% (95% CI 73.4–83.2) and 58.6% (95% CI 52.6–64.4) for healthcare worker- and self-collection, respectively. The McNemar test for correlated proportions was highly significant (p < 0.0001), indicating that the hrHPV mRNA proportions are not comparable, although this differed between age groups. Conclusions Applicator-tampon-based self-collection has a comparable hrHPV DNA positivity rate as healthcare worker collection but different positivity rates for hrHPV mRNA. Self-sampling showed high concordance with healthcare worker-collected sampling for hrHPV DNA detection, especially regarding HPV 16/18 detection. HrHPV DNA was equally detected between the total group as well as per age group. Implementation of self-sampling using an applicator tampon as a primary screening tool may be considered.

Background: Cervical cancer is mainly caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). Worldwide, knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer among women is reported to be inadequate. The study aimed to assess the knowledge and awareness of HPV and cervical cancer among women attending gynecology clinics at a tertiary hospital in Pretoria, South Africa. The study also intended to identify socio-demographic factors influencing women’s knowledge about HPV and cervical cancer risk factors. Methods: This was a clinic-based analytic cross-sectional study conducted among women aged 18 years and older. Participants were enrolled in the clinic waiting rooms while waiting to be attended to by the clinician. A self-administered questionnaire to assess knowledge of HPV, cervical cancer, and risk factors for developing cervical cancer was distributed to the participants. Results: A total of 527 women aged ≥18 years and older were randomly enrolled with a 99.8% response rate. Less than half (47.1%) of the participants had been previously screened for cervical cancer using a Papanicolaou (Pap) test. Few (18.8%) women correctly mentioned cervical cancer risk factors. Unemployed women were less likely to have correct knowledge of cervical cancer causes/risk factors (OR: 0.63; 95% CI 0.40–0.97) compared to employed women. Divorced/separated/widowed women were more likely to have good HPV knowledge compared to single participants (OR: 2.74; 95% CI 1.46–5.15). Conclusion: From this study, it is evident that cervical cancer screening is very low, and women lack knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer disease symptoms and its risk factors. There is a need for policies to prioritize providing accurate information to the public to reduce cervical cancer morbidity and mortality.