A study of HPV 1, 2 and 4 antibody prevalence in patients presenting for treatment with cutaneous warts to general practitioners in N. Ireland.
Three hundred and seventy-six patients attending their general practitioner with cutaneous warts at five health centres in Northern Ireland were screened for human papilloma virus (HPV) types 1 and 2 IgM antibody using an indirect immunofluorescence test. Eight-eight (23.4%) patients were positive for HPV type 1 IgM and 156 (41.5%) for HPV type 2 IgM. HPV 1 IgM antibody was significantly more likely to be associated with plantar warts than warts elsewhere (P less than 0.0001). HPV 2 IgM was present in 45 (34.1%) patients with plantar warts and 99 (45.6%) patients with warts at other sites (P = 0.1). Evidence of multiple infection by HPV types 1 and 2 was demonstrated by the finding of HPV 1 and 2 IgM antibodies in the sera of 16 (4.3%). HPV 4 was found in only 1 out of 30 biopsies and HPV 4 IgM was undetectable in 50 randomly chosen sera.
Steele
K
K
Department of General Practice, Queen's University of Belfast.
Shirodaria
P V
PV
Pfister
H
H
Pollock
B
B
Fuchs
P
P
Merrett
J D
JD
Irwin
W G
WG
Simpson
D I
DI
D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000032:analysis; D009660:Northern Ireland; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*; D014860:Warts / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D007075:Immunoglobulin M