title: Asymptomatic penile HPV infection: a prospective study.
abstract: The occurrence of human papillomavirus (HPV) among males was analysed with the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Penile brush samples were taken once from 147 males attending for a control or for HPV non-related reasons, and consecutive samples were collected from 88 males re-attending the clinic. Of the males attending once, 13% (19/147) were HPV DNA positive and among the re-attenders 14% (12/88) were initially positive as compared with 33% (29/88) who were positive at least at one visit. Totally, 22 different HPV types were detected of which HPV 16 was most common, found in 6.4% (15/235), followed by HPV 42 found in 3.8% (9/235). Among 14 HPV-positive males with at least one follow-up, 7 had persistent infections with at least one HPV type, and transient HPV types were observed in 9; but in 5 of them new types appeared at follow-up. Among sexually-active males subclinical/latent HPV infection is common and repeated sampling increases its prevalence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatovenereology, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wikström
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Popescu
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Forslund
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000145:classification*; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000821:virology*; D010409:Penile Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral