Cohorts of participants within the lowest salary range and with the largest number of total sex partners showed greater seroconversion

Significant personal factors and bacteria

The baseline personal significant factors and metagenomic data are shown as eleven items in Table 1. Among the HPV-negative cohort, negative conversion and HPV-positive subjects, both age and history of reproductive tract infection had a consistent pattern. Another two significant demographic and behavioral factors were the salary range and the total number of sex partners with an inconsistent pattern. The negative HPV test results tended to be associated with higher salaries. HPV-negative subjects had the lowest number of total sex partners.

After adjusting for age, salary, history of reproductive tract infection and the total number of sexual partners, the metagenomics data showed that both Lactobacillus jensenii and Streptococcus agalactiae were a relatively abundant part of the VMB, and another 5 types were pseudosignificant due to the limited sample size in this pilot study. Lactobacillus jensenii, for example, had a relatively higher proportion in the HPV-positive group and a reduced proportion in the seroconversion group. Continue Reading