Introduction Cervical self-collection is a safe and efficient method for detecting sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The study aims to verify the acceptance of cervical self-collection and the prevalence of HPV, HHV-2 and HIV-1 infection in women living in the Tapajós region, Amazônia, Brazil.

Methods Cross-sectional study with women attending in Santarém-Pará. The collection was performed between August 2015 and January 2017. Participants collected cervical scrapings and peripheral blood. Those who accepted, also performed cervical self-collection. Detection of HPV DNA was performed by nestedPCR with MY09/11 and GP5/6⁺ primers and typing was done by sequencing. Detection of HHV-2 DNA was performed by real-time PCR with Taqman. Identification of anti-HIV-1/2 antibodies was made by Alere Determine Kit.

Results A total of 206 specimens were obtained from 112 women. The acceptance of cervical self-collection was 84% (94/112) and HPV DNA was identified in 39.4% (37/94) of the samples. While the prevalence of HPV infection in cervical scraping was 32.1% (36/112). All the women presented Papanicolaou negative for malignancy. The most prevalent types were HPV-16 and HPV-18. The overall prevalence of HHV-2 infection was 8.9%. The concordance rate in the molecular diagnosis between cervical scraping and cervical self-collection was 65% (26/40) for HPV and 50% (4/8) for HHV-2. No woman had HIV-1 reactive serology.

Conclusion A high prevalence of HPV infection was found in women without dysplastic lesion. Cervical self-collection had high acceptance, moderate concordance rate in the detection of HPV DNA compared to cervical scraping, and alone it was more efficient in the detection of HPV. This is the first study in women living in Tapajós region and the findings strongly suggest that cervical self-collection may be a useful tool for increasing access to diagnosis of STIs and screening for cervical cancer in women living in the Amazon.