Detection of human papillomavirus DNA in skin warts from immunocompromised patients but not in semen from men whose wives have abnormal cervical cytology.

The epidemiology of human papillomaviruses (HPV) was studied in 61 immunocompromised patients (e.g. renal and cardiac transplants; Bowen's disease; genital cancer) undergoing therapy at the University Hospital of Wales at Cardiff U.K. Warts from various sites of these patients were studied for the presence of HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18 using the dot-blot DNA hybridization technique. Four HPV-16 and one HPV-11 was detected. The presence of HPV-16 in our study is quite significant since it suggests the potential occurrence of genital HPV types in skin warts in immunocompromised patients and hence the need for screening such patients against HPV types. HPV, mainly types 16 and 18 are usually associated with genital cancer, cervical malignancies and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. The semen of the husband of 30 women with cervical abnormalities and the semen of 30 husbands (control) of wives with normal cervix were tested for HPV-6, 11, 16 and 18. No HPV-DNA could be detected in all of the 60 specimen. This suggests that specimens were either truly negative for any of those types or because virus DNA could present in a small amount less than 5 pg/microliters in some patients. Whether semen plays a role in transmitting HPV is still controversial.