HIV female teens have cervical abnormalities

BOSTON, April 27 (UPI) -- A generation of female teens born with HIV who are now reaching sexual maturity have a higher number of cervical abnormalities, a U.S. study found.

Researchers monitored the rate of first-time pregnancies, genital health and Pap test results of 638 girls, ages 13 and over, who became infected with HIV around the time of birth.

The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found nearly 50 percent of the teens had abnormal cervical cells.

"We have already seen this in HIV-infected women," said lead author Susan Brogly of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. "However, in the adolescent girls, "we didn't expect to see as high rates as we did."

The study also found that only half of the girls who were sexually active had gotten Pap tests.