Diagnosis and Prevalence of High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Infection in Heterosexual Men

Abstract

A better understanding of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in men is an essential component of prevention programs aimed to reduce cervical cancer and other HPVrelated diseases. A screening test capable of detecting asymptomatic/subclinical genital HPV infection in men at a reasonable price and causing minimal discomfort to the patient would be very valuable. The following chapter focuses on acetowhite test usefulness in the detection of asymptomatic/subclinical genital high-risk (HR) HPV infection in highrisk men populations, HR-HPV prevalence in sexually active healthy male partners of women diagnosed of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and genotypespecific concordance between partners, addressing the preventive strategies that would reduce HPV infection in men. We present data from 125 men, sexual partners of women with preneoplastic cervical lesions. Prevalence of HR-HPV infection in male was high (50, 24% HPV16) and genotype concordance within the 60 infected couples was remarkable (62% shared at least one genotype). Acetowhite (AW) test was positive in 27% patients, showing low sensitivity for the identification of HR-HPV infection but allowed the diagnosis of subclinical HPV-related lesions in more than 10%. Current smoking and genital warts were associated with an increased risk of HR-HPV infection in men (OR: 2.4 and 5.6, respectively).

Lifestyle factors and oncogenic papillomavirus infection in a high-risk male population

“…As we reported previously [ 28 ], in our population smoking habits increased the risk of prevalent HR-HPV infection by 2.4-fold in males. These data are similar to those found in the HIM study.…”

“…As in other studies [ 28 , 40 ] we did not find evidence of a protective effect of circumcision on HPV prevalence. Similarly, in the literature it remains still unclear whether circumcision has a protective effect against HPV infection [ 41 ].…”

Frequency and distribution of HPV genotypes in 800 genital samples of Ecuadorian men and women from the city of Guayaquil

“…According to the International Agency for Research in Cancer (IARC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), 12 HPV genotypes, namely 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45 51, 52, 56, 58 and 59, are considered high risk genoypes and belong to the group I of human biologic carcinogens. HPV 68 is classified as probably carcinogenic and genotypes 26,30,34,53,66,67,69,70,73,82 and 85 are classified as possibly carcinogenic; these genotypes correspond to groups 2A and 2B, respectively 7,8 . In previous studies on HPV epidemiology in Ecuador, many authors have identified a number of genotypes that were not HPV16 and HPV18 [9][10][11][12][13] .…”