Human papillomavirus infection in a male population attending a sexually transmitted infection service.

OBJECTIVE: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection in men may produce cancer and other major disorders. Men play an important role in the transmission of the virus and act as a reservoir. The aim of this study was to determine the HPV-genotypes and their prevalence in a group of men attending a Sexually Transmitted Infection service. PATIENTS AND SAMPLES: Between July 2002 and June 2011, 1392 balanopreputial, 435 urethral, 123 anal, and 67 condyloma lesions from 1551 men with a mean age of 35.8±11.3 years old (range: 17-87) were collected for HPV-DNA testing. METHODS: A fragment of the L1-gene and a fragment of the E6/E7-genes were amplified by PCR. Positive samples were typed by hybridization. RESULTS: The HPV genome was detected in 36.9% (486/1318) balanopreputial and in 24.9% (101/405) urethral (p<0.0001) swabs from 38.1% (538) of 1469 men. Co-infections were present in 5.4% (80/1469) of cases. HPV was found in 43.9% (373/850) of men younger than 35 vs. 31.7% (187/589) of men aged >35. HPV was found in 59.4% (104) of 165 men with lesions (macroscopic or positive peniscopy), and in 22.8% (61/267) without clinical alterations. HPV was also detected in 71.4% (40/56) men with condylomata and in 58.7% (64/109) of men with positive peniscopy. CONCLUSIONS: HPV prevalence in men was high and decreased with age. HPV was found more frequently in balanopreputial than in urethral swabs. There was a low rate of co-infections. Low-risk HPV vaccine genotypes were the most recurrent especially in younger. Although HPV has been associated with clinical alterations, it was also found in men without any clinical presentation. Inclusion of men in the national HPV vaccination program may reduce their burden of HPV-related disease and reduce transmission of the virus to non-vaccinated women.

[Research on sexually transmitted infections in asymptomatic heterosexual males whose partners have cervical intraepithelial neoplasia]. / Investigación de infecciones de transmisión sexual en varones heterosexuales asintomáticos pareja de mujeres con neoplasia cervical intraepitelial.

INTRODUCTION: Human papillomaviruses (HPV) are the etiological agents of genital warts and of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and they are sexually transmitted. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STI) in asymptomatic heterosexual males who consult their physicians seeking advice after their partners have been diagnosed with CIN. METHODS: 181 asymptomatic males whose partners were women diagnosed with CIN were studied at the STI unit in Gijón over a five-year period (1999-2003). The same diagnostic protocol was used in all cases: clinical exam, genitoscopy and the taking of samples for bacterial, fungus and Trichomonas cultures, as well as samples for the genomic detection of Chlamydia, and syphilis, HIV and viral hepatitis serology. RESULTS: 101 infections were diagnosed in 85 patients (47 %). By order of greatest prevalence, these were: urethritis from Ureaplasma urealyticum (35/181; 19.3 %), genital warts (31/181; 17.1 %), Haemophilus spp. (12 de 181; 6.6 %) and mycotic balanoposthitis (10/181; 5.5 %). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of STI in the partners of women with CIN is high, and in these cases it is necessary to establish STI detection and control programs in both members of the couple.

Full HPV typing by a single restriction enzyme.

BACKGROUND: Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) methods for genotyping genital human papillomavirus (HPV) are considered labor consuming and constrained by the reduced set of restriction enzymes capable of detecting specific mutations. However, we think that these methods have not taken full advantage of the high diversity of the known restriction enzymes. OBJECTIVE: We have set out to find the best restriction enzyme for HPV typing. STUDY DESIGN: An extensive search for enzymes was carried out by combining statistical methods and database information. The search maximized the discrimination between high- and low-risk types by examining the sequence of the L1 gene flanked by primers MY09/11. Different electrophoretic resolutions and two variations of the RFLP method were considered. RESULTS: HpyCH4V is the best enzyme for discriminating between risk types. Moreover, HpyCH4V generates different patterns for virtually all the HPV types. The typical pattern consists of two or three fragments, which facilitates typing in mixed infections. The typing of a set of clinical samples confirmed the expectations. CONCLUSIONS: This result illustrates the possibilities of statistical methods to exploit the high diversity of restriction enzymes in order to classify samples in a pre-established hierarchy of types for which DNA sequences are known.

[Up to date in sexually transmitted infections: epidemiology, diagnostic approaches and treatments]. / Actualización en infecciones de transmisión sexual: epidemiología, diagnóstico y tratamiento.

In the last years, there have been important advances in sexually transmitted infections such as genome sequencing of Treponema pallidum, Chlamydia trachomatis or Mycoplasma genitalium; the new taxonomic position of Calymmatobacterium granulomatis; commercial diagnostic systems based on nucleic acid amplification; the emergence of quinolone resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae; new therapeutic approaches in vulvovaginal candidiasis that include boric acid; the demonstration that valacyclovir reduces the risk of transmission of genital herpes or the availability of immune-response modifier in the treatment of genital warts, and that are questions in the goal of this review. Viral hepatitis and HIV were no reviewed by space reasons.