Prevalence of HPV Infection in Spouses of Men with Genital Warts

Introduction: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the most common reported sexually transmitted infection (STI), which it may cause many serious complications. Many spouses of men with genital warts are expected to have HPV. However, many of them are presumed healthy due to physical examination when referred to gynecologist. It is aimed in this study to evaluate prevalence of HPV Infection in Spouses of men with genital warts according to three methods of physical examination, acetowhitening and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 38 spouses of men with definitive diagnosis of genital wart who referred to Imam Reza and Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, examined by a gynecologist. spouses, were examined for the presence of HPV infection & genital warts with three methods of clinical examination, use of 5% acetic acid (acetowhitening) and PCR on female cervical samples. Results: The mean age of women were 29.11 ± 5.82 years. Among the spouses, 15 cases (39.5%) were infected by HPV of whom 2 (5.3%) were clinically diagnosed. According to PCR method, 4 women were infected by low-risk virus and HPV type 6 was the most common one. Six women had high-risk HPV infection, which HPV type 16 was the most common and 5 women had both low and high risk subtypes of HPV. Conclusion: Since physical examination does not have high sensitivity to detect HPV infection and considering the role of this infection in cervical cancer, high prevalence, PCR method is recommended for diagnosis of HPV in spouses of men with genital warts.