Detection of human papillomavirus in the saliva of women with concurrent human papillomavirus related genital lesions

Objectives: To determine the association of the human papillomavirus (HPV) subtypes in the saliva of women and HPV-related genital lesions. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 104 women with documented genital HPV-related lesions and known HPV status were selected. These cases were examined for the HPV subtypes in their salivary specimens from July 2006 to August 2009 at the Gynecologic Clinics of Alzahra Teaching Hospital, Tabriz, Iran. To detect HPV DNA subtypes of 16, 18, 31, 33, 6, and 11, HPV was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction assay. Results: Type 16 HPV was the most frequently detected subtype in the saliva (29.8%), and cervix (24%). In addition, there was a significant association between the saliva and cervix with co-infection (p=0.009), and between the viral types of salivary and cervical+vulvar samples (p=0.00), and salivary and vulvar samples (p=0.001). On the other hand, there was a significant difference between the cervical and vulvar samples for the viral subtypes (p=0.000). Conclusion: The high risk HPV 16 is the most common simultaneous HPV subtype in the saliva and cervix of the cases. Identifying the HPV subtypes in saliva may facilitate recognizing persistent genital infections.Saudi Med J 2011; Vol. 32 (2): 141-146